Question

How do microbes reduce the environmental degradation caused by chemicals?

Answer 1

Chemicals from fertilisers and pesticides are highly toxic to human beings and animals alike and have been polluting our environment. To reduce the environmental degradation caused by chemicals, microbes can be used both as fertilizers and pesticides and can be called bio fertilisers and biopesticides, respectively Microbes are used as bio fertilisers to enrich the soil nutrients, e.g., Rhizobium Azotobacter, Azospirillum, etc, which can fix atmospheric nitrogen in the soil. Bacillus thuringiensis bacteria act as biopesticides to control the growth of insect pests. Trichoderma, fungal species is an effective biocontrol agent of several plant pathogens. Baculovirus used as a biological control agent in the genus Nucleopolyhedrovirus is excellent for species-specific, narrow spectrum insecticidal applications.