How can microbes be used to decrease the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides?

Biopesticides and bioinsecticides are the living organisms that specifically inhibit the growth of pest and insects e.g., Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) is a gram-positive bacterium that produces crystal proteins which are potent and highly specific insecticides.

How microbes can be used to decrease the harmful effects of chemical fertilisers and pesticides give two examples?

Bio-fertilizers are cost effective and eco-friendly. Microbes can also act as bio-pesticides to control insect pests in plants. An example of bio-pesticides is Bacillus thuringiensis, which produces a toxin that kills the insect pests. Dried bacterial spores are mixed in water and sprayed in agricultural fields.

How can microbes be used to decrease the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides Class 12?

The use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides can be reduced by the use of biofertilizers and biological pest control methods. Biofertilizers are organisms that enrich the nutrient quality of the soil. The main sources of biofertilizers are bacteria, fungi and cyanobacteria.

How microbes destroy the chemical pesticides in soil?

6. Biodegradation of chemical pesticides in the soil is carried out especially by worms, fungi, and bacteria as they use it as a food source. 7. Bacteria responsible for biodegradation are Flavobacterium, Azotobacter species, Pseudomonas, Acetobacter, Burkholderia, etc.

How do pesticides affect microbes?

Changes in the diversity and structure of microbial communities following exposure to pesticides may result from toxic effects of pesticides on some microbial groups and proliferation of tolerant species due to reduced competition for space and available nutrients¹².

What are the reasons for avoiding the use of chemical pesticides?

Grade 12

• Pesticides don't solve pest problems.
• Pesticides are hazardous to our health.
• Pesticides cause special problems for children.
• Pesticides contaminate our food.
• Pesticides are particularly hazardous for farmers, farm workers, and people who live near them.
• Pesticides are dangerous to pets.

What is microbial pesticide?

Microbial pesticides consist of a microorganism (e.g., a bacterium, fungus, virus or protozoan) as the active ingredient. Microbial pesticides can control many different kinds of pests, although each separate active ingredient is relatively specific for its target pest[s].

What is role of soil microorganisms in biodegradation of pesticides and herbicides?

Microorganisms play a key role in removal of xenobiotics like endosulfan from the contaminated sites because of their dynamic, complex and complicated enzymatic systems which degrade these chemicals by eliminating their functional groups of the parent compound.

How do pesticides degrade in soil?

Pesticides, which enter the soil environment, are subject to a variety of degradative processes. The overall degradation of a pesticide from soil results from a combination of mechanisms such as microbial degradation, chemical hydrolysis, photolysis, volatility, leaching and surface runoff.

Which one of the following microbes can degrade pesticide?

Some pesticides are readily degraded by microorganisms, others have proven to be recalcitrant. A diverse group of bacteria, including members of the genera Alcaligenes, Flavobacterium, Pseudomonas and Rhodococcus, metabolize pesticides.

How can we reduce the use of chemical fertilizers?

Agroforestry, mulching, intercropping, crop rotation, organic farming are management strategies to reduce chemical fertilizers usage.

Do you think microbes can also be used as a source of energy if yes how?

Yes, Microbes can be used as a source of energy. Gober gas is a mixture of methane (CH4), carbon dioxide (CO2), hydrogen (H2) and hydrogen sulphide (H2S) with methane as a major component (65%). Methanogens are anaerobic autotrophic bacteria that convert carbon dioxide and hydrogen into methane gas.

In which way do microbes play a major role in controlling diseases caused by harmful bacteria?

Several micro-organisms are used for preparing medicines. Antibiotics are medicines produced by certain micro-organisms to kill other disease-causing micro-organisms. These medicines are commonly obtained from bacteria and fungi. They either kill or stop the growth of disease-causing micro-organisms.

How can microbes be used to decrease?

Microbes can be used to decrease the use of chemical fertilisers and pesticides.

What is role of microbes in single cell protein?

A single cell protein is a protein obtained from certain microbes, which forms an alternate source of proteins in animal feeds. The microbes involved in the preparation of single cell proteins are algae, yeast, or bacteria. These microbes are grown on an industrial scale to obtain the desired protein.

Why does chemical fertilizers reduce soil fertility?

Chemical fertiliser overuse can contribute to soil acidification and soil crust, thereby reducing the content of organic matter, humus content, beneficial species, stunting plant growth, altering the pH of the soil, growing pests, and even leading to the release of greenhouse gases.

How are fertilizers and pesticides harmful to the environment?

Impact on environment

Pesticides can contaminate soil, water, turf, and other vegetation. In addition to killing insects or weeds, pesticides can be toxic to a host of other organisms including birds, fish, beneficial insects, and non-target plants.

How pesticides and fertilizers are responsible for soil pollution?

Regular use of chemical fertilizers, pesticides will decrease the fertility of the soil at a rapid rate and alter the structure of the soil. This will lead to decrease in soil quality and poor quality of crops.

Which of the following microbes can degrade carbaryl most efficiently?

Which of the following microbes can degrade carbaryl most efficiently? Explanation: Pseudomonas melophthora is known to degrade carbaryl most efficiently and thereby degrading it to several metabolites, decreasing their toxicity and harm to the environment.

How are pesticides biodegradable?

Enzymes are also involved in the degradation of pesticide compounds, both in the target organism, through intrinsic detoxification mechanisms and evolved metabolic resistance, and in the wider environment, via biodegradation by soil and water microorganisms [53].

What are the two main ways that pesticides move through the environment?

Pesticides move in several ways, including: in air, through wind or through air currents generated by ventilation systems, in water, through runoff or leaching.

Why are microbes used as insecticides?

So, microbial agents are highly specific against target pests so they facilitate the survival of beneficial insects in treated crops. This may be the main reason that microbial insecticides are being developed as biological control agents during the last three decades.

How microbial insecticides are produced?

Bt products are produced commercially in large industrial fermentation tanks. As the bacteria live and multiply in the right conditions, each cell produces (internally) a spore and a crystalline protein toxin called an endotoxin.

What are the examples of microbial insecticides?

Microbial Insecticides

• kurstaki (Dipel®, Javelin® and others) – caterpillars of moths and butterflies.
• israelensis (Vectobac®, Gnatrol®) – larvae of flies such as fungus gnats.
• san diego (M-One®) – larvae of beetles such as elm leaf beetles and Colorado potato beetles.