Current Status of Botanical Pesticides for Crop Protection |
Quang Le Dang, Chi Hwan Lim1 and Jin-Cheol Kim* |
Eco-friendly Research Group, Division of Convergence Chemistry, Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology, Daejeon 305-600, Korea 1College of Agriculture and Life Science, Chungnam National University, Daejeon 305-764, Korea |
Received: June 11, 2012 Revised: July 16, 2012 Accepted: September 03, 2012 |
Abstract |
The problems caused by synthetic pesticides have led the need for effective biodegradable pesticides with greater selectivity. Botanical pesticides are generally recognized as safe in agriculture systems. Thus, they have been regarded as attractive alternatives to synthetic chemical pesticides for the pest management. Both lower efficacy and higher costs of production make botanicals more expensive to use than conventional pesticides. Moreover, only a small portion of plant-derived metabolites among a number of bioactive metabolites are in use because commercialization of botanicals is inhibited by several problems such as toxicity, or high production cost. However, with the growing acceptance of botanical pesticides as an efficient crop protection alternative resulting in increasing demand, plant-based pesticides will play a significant role in achieving sustainable agriculture in future. |
Key Words:
Botanical pesticides, Plant-derived metabolites, Sustainable agriculture, Synthetic pesticides |
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