Question

Write a note on biological control of pests and diseases.

Hint:

Recall specific organisms used against specific pests/pathogens.

Answer 1

Step 1: Concept:
Biological control uses living organisms — natural predators, parasites, or pathogens of a pest — to keep the pest population in check, instead of using chemical pesticides.

Step 2: Examples:
Ladybird beetles and dragonflies are used to control aphids and mosquitoes respectively; the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) produces toxins lethal to specific insect larvae and is used as a biopesticide (and in Bt crops); the fungus Trichoderma is used as a biocontrol agent against several plant pathogens; baculoviruses are used as narrow-spectrum, species-specific insecticidal agents.