Allelochemicals: Biological Control of Plant Pathogens and Diseases

Biological control of plant diseases and plant pathogens is of great significance in forestry and agriculture. There is great incentive to discover biologically active natural products from higher plants that are better than synthetic agrochemicals and are much safer, from a health and environmental point-of-view. The development of natural products such as herbicides, fungicides, and their role in biological control of plant diseases, indicates a reduction in environmental and health hazards. Allelopathic techniques offer a real future in solving several problems, for instance biological control of plant pests. This book is organized around the indication that allelochemicals can be employed for biological control of plant pathogens and plant diseases. Specifically, this volume focuses on (i) discovery and development of natural product based fungicides for agriculture, (ii) direct use of allelochemicals as well as indirect effects through cover crops and organic amendments for plant parasitic pest control and (iii) application of allelopathy in pest management.

Inderjit is professor and Director at the Centre for Environmental Management of Degraded Ecosystems (CEMDE), University of Delhi. He studies allelochemical interactions among and between plants at ecosystem-level, plant invasions, ecology and management of herbicide resistant weeds, and ecophysiology of allelochemicals. He also focuses on related issues - mechanisms of competitive dominance of weeds and tries to understand the role of life forms of species and climatic and edaphic factors in the regulation of allelochemical activity that determines species interactions at various levels of ecological organization. Inderjit has published several papers in peer-reviewed journals of international repute and he edited several books. He is an editorial board member of scientific journals, and referees papers for reputed journals. His homepage address is: http://www.inderjit-ecology.com

Professor K.G. Mukerji, retired Senior Professor University of Delhi has published over 600 research papers. He has co-authored ‘Taxonomy of Indian Myxomycetes’ (J. Cramer, Germany), ‘Index to Plant Diseases of India’ (Tata McGraw Hill, India), ‘The Haustorium’ (Research Studies Press Limited, England and John Wiley and Sons Inc., USA) and edited ‘Biocontrol of Plant Diseases’ Vols. I and II (CRC Press, USA), ‘Handbook of Applied Mycology’, Vols. I-IV (Marcel and Dekkar, USA), ‘Concepts in Mycorrhizal Research’, ‘Techniques in Mycorrhizal Studies’, ‘Fruit and Vegetable Diseases’ Kluwer Academic Publishers, The Netherland, ‘Recent Developments in Biocontrol of Plant Diseases", "Current Concepts in Seed Biology", "Advances in Medical Mycology", "IPM System in Agriculture Vols I to VII" (from Aditya Book Pvt. Ltd., India); "Progress in Microbial Ecology", "Frontiers in Applied Microbiology Vols. I-IV" (Print House India Ltd. Lucknow, India); "Mycorrhiza Round Table" (IDRC, Canada), ‘Advances in Botany’, ‘The Mushrooms ofIndia-Boletaceae’, ‘Red Algae’, ‘Brown Algae’, ‘Integrated Pest and Disease Management’, ‘Glimpses in Botany’ (APH Publishing Corporation, New Delhi), ‘Biology of Lichens’ (Aravali Books International, New Delhi), ‘Biotechnological Approaches in Biocontrol of Plant Pathogens’, ‘Mycorrhizal Biology’, ‘Biocontrol Potential & its Exploitation in Sustainable Agriculture’ Vols I and II (Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers, USA). He is on the editorial board of several national and international journals dealing with Botany, Mycology, Plant Pathology, Microbiology and Biotechnology. He is a Honorary Member of The Research Board of Advisors of the American Biographical Institute, North Carolina, USA. More than 60 students have got Ph.D. in Botany under the supervision of Professor Mukerji. He is a member of numerous societies and associations concerning mycology, plant pathology and microbial ecology. Professor Mukerji is a distinguished mycologist and microbial ecologist and he is well reputed for his research contributions all over the world.