Biological Control of fungal Plant Disease in Indonesia

Abstract

Fungal plant diseases are major diseases providing economic loss in various crops in Indonesia. Biological control plays an important role to overcome those diseases. The paper discusses the current status, strategy, research, dissemination, problem facing and the future of biological control in context of Indonesian agricultural development. Research on biological control has been done in universities and research centers, however registered biocontrol agent products and number of applied antagonists by farmers are still limited. The use of biocontrol agent by farmers e.g. Trichoderma harzianum and PGPR (plant growth promoting rhizobacteria) in controlling various fungal plant diseases of various commodities is also described. Dissemination of biocontrol agent is carried out through two ways- state-community-based route and industrial-based route, with each strength and weakness is elaborated. Development and application of biological control of fungal plant diseases is still promising, although it faces some technical, policy and institutional problems