PROS AND CONS OF FUNGICIDES: AN OVERVIEW

Many contact and systemic fungicides are used to control plant pathogens to get disease free crop. Farmers use these chemicals to protect their crop like plantation crop, fiber crop, vegetable and fruit crops etc., from plant pathogenic fungi and their toxins which destroy their entire crop and finally economic loss occurred. But these fungicides also affect soil microorganisms like decomposers and mycorrhizal fungi etc. Fungicides also show hazardous affect on human health. Soil and water pollution occur due to use of fungicides. Many fungi also play an important role in soil in increasing soil fertility. Some fungi like Trichoderma, Penicillium, Aspergillus etc., show antagonistic effect against plant pathogen. These beneficial microorganisms kill by using fungicides. Instead of using fungicides we should use some plant extracts and biocontrol agents which show antimicrobial activity. If biocontrol agents, botanicals as well as nano-materials are used to control plant pathogens, we can save our environment from pollution to get healthy environment for all living beings.