Natural Product Fungicides For Control Of

The world fungicide market is approximately $5.5 billion and is almost exclusively synthetic chemicals.Over the past decade there has been increasing concern over chemical pesticide residues in the foodsupply, in the groundwater, and associated with worker safety issues. Recent legislation may limit theuse of many existing chemicals and the cost of research has slowed the introduction of new fungicides.Without new chemistry, the few products left for integrated pest management will be overused leadingto resistance. Microbial natural products offer an abundant source of chemical diversity, yet there arefew natural products fungicides for agriculture. The proposed research will develop fungicides basedon bioactive microbial metabolites that we have shown to suppress Phytophthora, Alternaria, Botrytis,and Plasmopara. We will optimize fermentation yield based on metabolite production and formulatethe broths for stability and effective delivery. This will produce a mixture of bacteria and spores inwhich we control the level of bioactive metabolites, allowing us to make a reliable product that is safeand efficacious.