Protecting crops from pests and pathogens without using toxic pesticides has been a longtime goal of farmers. Researchers at Boyce Thompson Institute have found that compounds from an unlikely source — microscopic soil roundworms — could achieve this aim.
Protecting crops from pests and pathogens without using toxic pesticides has been a longtime goal of farmers. Researchers at Boyce Thompson Institute have found that compounds from an unlikely source — microscopic soil roundworms — could achieve this aim.
As described in research published in the May 2019 issue of Journal of Phytopathology, these compounds helped protect major crops from various pathogens, and thus have potential to save billions of dollars and increase agricultural sustainability around the world.
Led by BTI Senior Research Associate Murli Manohar, a team around Professors Daniel Klessig and Frank Schroeder investigated the effects of a roundworm metabolite called ascr#18 on plant health.
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