Bacteriophages as Bactericides in Plant Protection

Abstract

Control of plant pathogenic bacteria is a serious problem in production of many agricultural crops. High multiplication rate, adaptability and life inside plant tissue make bacteria unsuitable and inaccessible for most of control measures. Consequently, the list of bactericides available for plant protection is very short. Lately, biological control measures have been intensively studied as a potential solution of the problem. Investigation of bacteriophages, viruses that attack bacteria, is a fast-expanding area of research in plant protection. Several experiments have shown that they can be used as a very efficient tool for control of plant pathogenic bacteria. The fact that they are widespread natural bacterial enemies, simple for cultivation and management, host-specific, suitable for integration with other control practices, human and environment friendly, provide a great advantage for the application of phages over other bactericides.

Zaštita bilja od patogenih bakterija predstavlja značajan problem u poljoprivrednoj proizvodnji. Visoka stopa umnožavanja, prilagodljivost i život u unutrašnjosti biljnih tkiva čine bakterije veoma nepogodnim i nedostupnim za suzbijanje. Zahvaljujući tome, lista baktericida, koji se mogu primeniti u zaštiti bilja, veoma je kratka. Poslednjih godina, rešenje problema sve više se traži u primeni bioloških mera zaštite. Bakteriofagi, virusi koji parazitiraju bakterije, sve su češće predmet istraživanja fitopatologa. Eksperimentalno je pokazano da se mogu iskoristiti kao veoma efikasno sredstvo za kontrolu štetnih bakterija. Činjenice da su opšte rasprostranjeni prirodni neprijatelji bakterija, jednostavni za gajenje i održavanje, specifični prema domaćinu, pogodni za integraciju sa drugim merama zaštite, bezopasni po čoveka i druge činioce biosfere, daju im značajnu prednost nad drugim sredstvima baktericidnog dejstva.