Development of Mycoherbicides

Alexander Berestetskiy, in Encyclopedia of Mycology, 2021

What is Mycoherbicide
Bioherbicides are formulations consisting of living microorganisms and
ancillary components (surfactants, adjuvants, preserving agents, water
retaining additives, inert fillers etc.) for weed control. More specifically, weed
control formulations based on fungi are called mycoherbicides (Bailey, 2014).
Plant or microbial extracts with phytotoxic properties, purified or semi-purified
natural phytotoxins are sometimes also referred as bioherbicides (Bordin et
al., 2018). However, this group of pesticides is better to assign to biorational
(natural or biochemical) herbicides (Duke et al., 2019), which will be
discussed below.
Mycoherbicides aim to cause local epidemics in the populations of
undesirable plants. In contrast to that, classical biocontrol leads to
uncontrolled dispersal of the disease and following epidemics in populations
of target host-plants. In both cases, the disease is expected to weaken
susceptible weeds and to decrease their competitive ability. Some
necrotrophic fungi (e.g., belonging to genera Alternaria, Bipolaris, Drechslera,
Fusarium, Myrothecium and Phoma-like fungi) release phytotoxins during the
infection process that directly kill plants acting similarly to biorational
herbicides (TeBeest et al., 1992).
Why do endemic species of phytopathogenic fungi not cause the destructive
epidemics of weeds similar to some fungal diseases on cultivated plants? The
main obstacles to the epidemics in the weed population are: (1) uneven
distribution of host plants in the field and their different susceptibility to
phytopathogens; (2) the use of fungicides, crop rotations and soil cultivation,
which destroy the trophic relations of pathogens with host plants; (3)
insufficient aggressiveness; (4) climatic conditions unfavorable for epidemics.
Therefore, phytopathogenic microorganisms are artificially multiplied on host-
plants or in bioreactors and are applied to weeds at high concentrations in a
period of time favorable for infection in the same way as chemical herbicides.
Mycoherbicides should be used regularly, although it is not excluded that their
effect will be stable for several seasons after establishing successful infection
and epidemics (TeBeest et al., 1992).
Mycoherbicides are (or are considered to be) selective biologics that suppress
one or several species of weeds. The selectivity of potential mycoherbicides
is carefully studied before commercialization. Without questions, narrow host-
range is a strict requirement for classical biocontrol agents. However, from
commercial point view, it is commonly a significant disadvantage of
mycoherbicides when compared with chemical herbicides. In addition, the
effectiveness of mycoherbicides is lower comparing with chemical herbicides;
the area of treatments cannot be large, and their shelf-life period is limited.
However, development of mycoherbicides is much cheaper. They can be
used in organic farming or as a component of the integrated management of
troublesome weeds (Hershenhorn et al., 2016).
The host range of the fungus and selectivity of its formulations should be
proven both theoretically and experimentally. Some mycoherbicides are
based on wide-spectrum pathogens recorded both on target weeds and
crops. Such pathogens can be used at particular situations when susceptible
crops are not included in a crop rotation in the region where weed biocontrol
is performed. If the conditions for the use of mycoherbicides are violated,
damage to the protected crops is possible (Watson, 2019). To date, just
seven of 15 registered mycoherbicides could be available, but none of them
are broadly used (Table 1). This is partially because most of them are
selective biologicals that have been developed to suppress specific
problematic weed species.
Table 1. Mycoherbicides that have been registered worldwide

Product Registration
Active ingredient Target weed (s)
name Year Country
Lasiodiplodia
pseudotheobromae,
Di-Bak® Parkinsonia
2018 Australia Neoscytalidium
Parkinsonia aculeata
novaehollandiae,
Macrophomina phaseolina
Bio-Phoma™ 2016 Canada Numerous broad-
Phoma macrostoma
Phoma™ 2012 USA leaved weeds

Sarritor® 2009 Canada Sclerotinia minor Taraxacum

Product Registration
Active ingredient Target weed (s)
name Year Country
officinale and other
broad-leaved
weeds
Canada, Chondrostereum Populus and Alnus
Chontrol™ 2004
USA purpureum spp.
Collego™ 1982 Colletotrichum
Aeschynomene
USA gloeosporioides f. sp.
LockDown™ 2006 virginica
aeschynomene
1981,
DeVine™ USA Phytophthora palmivora Morrenia odorata
2006
Note: Morin, L., 2020. Progress in biological control of weeds with plant
pathogens. Annual Reviews of Phytopathology 58, 201–223.
Biocontrol agents a priory look environmentally safe. However, allergenicity
and toxicity, persistence in soil, effect on useful organisms should also be
evaluated. Little is known about these properties of phytopathogens, except
for some Alternaria spp. and wide range of Fusarium fungi (Żukiewicz-
Sobczak, 2013; Chou et al., 2014).