Conclusions and perspectives: Perspectives for future research-and-development projects on biological

The review of published scientific literature on the biological control of selected pests and diseases has lead to the identification of clear knowledge gaps highlighted in previous chapters. Further bottlenecks were revealed by seeking the possible reasons for the striking discrepancy between the rich inventory of potential biocontrol agents described by scientists and a very small number of commercial products on the market. To complement these analyses, the participants of Research Activity 4.3 of the European Network ENDURE organized consultations of experts (scientists, extension specialists and representatives of the Biocontrol industry) at the occasion of scientific meetings of three Working Groups of IOBC-wpr

Chapter 1: Potential of biological control based on published research. 1. Protection against plant pathogens of selected crops

Preface: One of the Research Activities (RA 4.3) of the European Network for Durable Exploitation of crop protection strategies (ENDURE*) has brought together representatives of industry and scientists from several European countries with experience ranging from fundamental biology to applied field work on biological control against pests and diseases. The unique diversity of expertise and concerns allowed the group to set up very complementary approaches to tackle the issue of the factors of success of biocontrolResults of Research Activities (RA 4.3) of the EU FP6. These results, complemented by the views of experts in the field of biocontrol consulted at the occasion of meetings of IOBC-wprs, allowed the identification of majors gaps in knowledge and bottlenecks for the successful deployment of biocontrol and lead to the proposition of key issues for future work by the research community, the field of development and prospects for technological improvement by industry

Chapter 8: Identified difficulties and conditions for field success of biocontrol. 4. Socio-economic aspects: market analysis and outlook

Preface: One of the Research Activities (RA 4.3) of the European Network for Durable Exploitation of crop protection strategies (ENDURE*) has brought together representatives of industry and scientists from several European countries with experience ranging from fundamental biology to applied field work on biological control against pests and diseases. The unique diversity of expertise and concerns allowed the group to set up very complementary approaches to tackle the issue of the factors of success of biocontrolResults of Research Activities (RA 4.3) of the EU FP6. These results, complemented by the views of experts in the field of biocontrol consulted at the occasion of meetings of IOBC-wprs, allowed the identification of majors gaps in knowledge and bottlenecks for the successful deployment of biocontrol and lead to the proposition of key issues for future work by the research community, the field of development and prospects for technological improvement by industry

Chapter 7: Identified difficulties and conditions for field success of biocontrol. 3. Economic aspects: cost analysis

Preface: One of the Research Activities (RA 4.3) of the European Network for Durable Exploitation of crop protection strategies (ENDURE*) has brought together representatives of industry and scientists from several European countries with experience ranging from fundamental biology to applied field work on biological control against pests and diseases. The unique diversity of expertise and concerns allowed the group to set up very complementary approaches to tackle the issue of the factors of success of biocontrolResults of Research Activities (RA 4.3) of the EU FP6. These results, complemented by the views of experts in the field of biocontrol consulted at the occasion of meetings of IOBC-wprs, allowed the identification of majors gaps in knowledge and bottlenecks for the successful deployment of biocontrol and lead to the proposition of key issues for future work by the research community, the field of development and prospects for technological improvement by industry

Yeast populations on the tropical timber tree species Milicia excelsa.

Yeast populations found on the tropical timber tree species Milicia excelsa showed very little diversity at the genus and species level. Of 62 isolates, 87% were Cryptococcus laurentii, 5%Candida humicola, 3%Candida curvata, 1.5%Candida membranaefaciens, 1.5%Rhodotorula minuta and 1.5%Rhodotorula rubra. Approximately half of the Crypt. laurentii strains had unusual metabolic profiles when compared with the Crypt. laurentii strains in the profile library of the APILAB yeast identification software. All isolated strains were non-pathogenic and did not show antagonism against Botrytis cinerea in an in vitro plate assay. However, three strains of Crypt. laurentii suppressed disease development of B. cinerea in a leaf disk bio-assay. This indicates that protection of leaves against opportunistic fungal diseases may be part of the ecological function of Crypt. laurentii populations on Milicia leaves and the potential of this yeast species for biological control

Evolution of host resistance: looking for coevolutionary hotspots at small spatial scales

Natural plant populations are often found to be extremely diverse in their resistance to pathogens. While the potential of pathogens in driving the evolution of resistance in hosts has been widely recognized, empirical evidence linking disease dynamics to host population genetic structure has remained scarce. Here I show that current coevolutionary selection for resistance can be divergent even on a very fine spatial scale. In a natural plant–pathogen metapopulation, disease occurrence patterns were highly aggregated over space and time within host populations. A laboratory inoculation experiment showed higher resistance within areas of the host populations where encounter rates with the pathogen have been high. Higher resistance to sympatric than to allopatric strains of the pathogen suggests that this change has taken place as a response to local selection. These results constitute evidence of adaptive microevolution of resistance resulting from disease epidemics in natural plant–pathogen associations, and highlight the importance of finding the relevant scale at which to address questions of current coevolutionary selection