Although chemical fertilizers are effective in increasing the crop yield, however, these may cause some problems such as soil structure deterioration, ground water pollution and high nitrates in vegetables. Their excessive use has contributed to reduction in soil organic matter content, with a consequent reduction in the quality of agricultural soils. There is a strong conviction among researchers to probe into alternatives of chemical based agriculture. In view of its economic, social and environmental benefits, there is a worldwide trend towards the promotion of organic...

Bell pepper (Capsicum annuum L.), family Solanaceae is among the world's most popular vegetables. It is a good source of various beneficial phytochemicals that are essential in human diet and in the prevention of breast cancer, and powerful antioxidants that reduce the risk of heart disease. Southern blight caused by Sclerotium rolfsii Sacc. is a common and destructive disease of bell pepper in most of the countries and is worldwide in distribution. Valuable management of this disease can be achieved by the use of synthetic pesticides. However, since synthetic fungicides are also responsible...

Onion (Allium cepa L), a popular vegetable all over the world, has great economic importance due to its medicinal as well as dietetic values. Basal rot disease caused by Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cepae is one of the most destructive soil-borne diseases of onion that causes important yield losses in all growing areas of the world. The causal organism infects the basal stem plate of the bulb and eventually kills the entire plant through degradation of the basal plate. Synthetic pesticides are generally used to combat this menace. However, these agro-chemicals are responsible for...

Sunflower is one of the four major oilseed crops produced in the world. The sunflower oil is preferred over other vegetable oil because of its specific characteristics as it is very easy to refine, has good digestibility, and low level of cholesterol and saturated fats. The yield of this valuable crop is decreasing tremendously due to charcoal rot disease caused by Macrophomina phaseolina. Synthetic chemicals are being used to control the fungal diseases. However, increasing public concern on environmental issues requires alternative disease management systems, which are based on naturally...

Parthenium (Parthenium hysterophorus L.) is a noxious weed due to its potential to decrease the crop productivity,biodiversity depletion and health problems for livestock and human causing hay fever, skin problems and asthma. Some synthetic chemical herbicides such as chlorimuron ethyl, glyphosate, atrazine, ametryn, bromoxynil and metasulfuron are known to be very effective in controlling this weed. However, increasing public concern on environmental issues requires alternative weed management systems, which are less pesticide dependant or based on naturally occurring compounds....