Biocontrol of Mycotoxins Contamination of Crops

Dear colleagues,

Projected climate change and use of chemical pesticides in agronomy have direct effect(s) on the staple crops and food commodities. A critical component of this impact is an augmented infection of agriculture crops by mycotoxigenic fungal pathogens and contamination with >250 mycotoxins produced by thousands of ubiquitous molds. The contamination with mycotoxins is further amplified during harvesting, handling, storage, distribution of agricultural commodities and trade globalization.

Mycotoxigenic fungal outbreaks are a chronic threat for crop yield and safety, human and animal health worldwide. Hence, regulatory authorities impose strict standards for improving control strategies, whereas agriculture practices are implementing high quality control systems. Therefore, the food security researchers and crop growers are seeking eco-friendly biocontrol solutions to minimize mycotoxins in grain infected by fungi or molds and to reduce pesticide inputs.

Biocontrol approach is using beneficial microbial antagonists alone, via pre- and post-harvest treatments, or within an integrated control strategy. It has emerged as a promising approach to control mycotoxins in crops and to reduce the impact of mycotoxins in the food and feed chains. Historic advancements in the use of biocontrol strategies have led to registration of commercial products with increased practical applications for the benefit of growers worldwide. However, recent scientific papers have indicated an important gap in understanding of the biocontrol agents, their lifestyles and critical behavioral traits for more efficient protection of crops, prevention of pre-harvest contamination and/or accumulation of mycotoxins, improved decontamination and/or detoxification of mycotoxins from contaminated grains/foods/feeds, thus minimizing risks for consumers. This topic requires more knowledge to be generated for biocontrol antagonists across crops, cropping systems, tolerance to climate change and pesticides, soil types, and geographies. Hence, the emphasis of this Special Issue of the Agronomy journal is put on vital biocontrol aspects; the antagonistic microbial agents against mycotoxigenic fungal diseases and their mycotoxins in different crops and so from both theoretical and practical or applicative standpoints.

I would like to invite contributions from broad scientific community, governmental institutions and regulators, industries and growers interested to reduce pesticide inputs for sustainable agriculture and to advance this topic for well-being of society, economy and public health.

Prof. Dr. Vladimir Vujanovic
Guest Editor

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• agronomy
• biological control agents (BCAs)
• species or taxa
• mycotoxigenic fungi
• molds
• mycotoxins
• crops
• genetics, genomes, transcriptomes, proteomes
• pre-harvest
• post-harvest
• food
• BCA formulation
• BCA application