Testing plant-derived products as biopesticides for plant pathogen management

Like humans and other animals, plants also get sick, exhibit disease symptoms, and even die. Over the past 100 years, farmers have heavily relied upon chemical fertilizers and pesticides in order to increase crop productivity and quality. However, the environmental pollution caused by excessive use and misuse of agrochemicals has led to considerable changes in peopleâs attitudes towards the use of pesticides in agriculture. As an alternative,, biopesticides, derived from natural materials, are being developed to replace some of the most problematic, pollution creating and carcinogenic chemical pesticides currently in use. This research will investigate the performance of plant-derived products as biopesticides on several different plant pathogens in vitro and in vivo, for better understanding of their disease control spectrum. This project will be under the collaboration of Dr. Li lab at UBC and Terramera, for further improving the formulations of available biopesticides to be more effective.

Faculty Supervisor:

Xin Li

Student:

Shumin Wang

Partner:

Terramera Inc

Discipline:

Biology

Sector:

Agriculture

University:

Program: