Functional biodiversity with soilborne fungi to suppress greenhouse pests

Summary

Pests and diseases are often suppressed by various species of natural enemies and antagonists that naturally occur in cropping systems. Stimulating and conserving this functional biodiversity can be used to increase the resilience of cropping systems. The recently-started EU project Greenresilient is dedicated to study these principles to increase the resilience and sustainability of organic greenhouse cropping systems in Europe. Within this project, Wageningen University & Research is focussing on the role of beneficial microorganisms in the soil. Several strains of entomopathogenic fungi were successfully isolated from 5 organic greenhouse locations in Europe. These fungi show potential to increase the resilience of plants to aboveground pests by acting as endophytes.