Biocontrol agents (BCA) have been an important tool in agriculture to prevent crop losses due to plant pathogens infections and to increase plant food production globally, diminishing the necessity for chemical pesticides and fertilizers and offering a more sustainable and environmentally friendly option. Fungi from the genus Trichoderma are among the most used and studied microorganisms as BCA due to the variety of biocontrol traits, such as parasitism, antibiosis, secondary metabolites (SM) production, and plant defense system induction. Several Trichoderma species are well-known mycoparasites. However, some of those species can antagonize other organisms such as nematodes and plant pests, making this fungus a very versatile BCA. Trichoderma has been used in agriculture as part of innovative bioformulations, either just Trichoderma species or in combination with other plant-beneficial microbes, such as plant growth-promoting bacteria (PGPB). Here, we review the most recent literature regarding the biocontrol studies about six of the most used Trichoderma species, T. atroviride, T. harzianum, T. asperellum, T. virens, T. longibrachiatum, and T. viride, highlighting their biocontrol traits and the use of these fungal genera in Trichoderma-based formulations to control or prevent plant diseases, and their importance as a substitute for chemical pesticides and fertilizers.

The modern agricultural system has issues with the reduction of agricultural productivity due to a wide range of abiotic and biotic stresses. It is also expected that in the future the entire world population may rapidly increase and will surely demand more food. Farmers now utilize a massive quantity of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides for disease management and to increase food production. These synthetic fertilizers badly affect the environment, the texture of the soil, plant productivity, and human health. However, agricultural safety and sustainability depend on an ecofriendly and inexpensive biological application. In contrast to synthetic fertilizers, soil inoculation with plant-growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) is one of the excellent alternative options. In this regard, we focused on the best PGPR genera, Pseudomonas, which exists in the rhizosphere as well as inside the plant’s body and plays a role in sustainable agriculture. Many Pseudomonas spp. control plant pathogens and play an effective role in disease management through direct and indirect mechanisms. Pseudomonas spp. fix the amount of atmospheric nitrogen, solubilize phosphorus and potassium, and also produce phytohormones, lytic enzymes, volatile organic compounds, antibiotics, and secondary metabolites during stress conditions. These compounds stimulate plant growth by inducing systemic resistance and by inhibiting the growth of pathogens. Furthermore, pseudomonads also protect plants during different stress conditions like heavy metal pollution, osmosis, temperature, oxidative stress, etc. Now, several Pseudomonas-based commercial biological control products have been promoted and marketed, but there are a few limitations that hinder the development of this technology for extensive usage in agricultural systems. The variability among the members of Pseudomonas spp. draws attention to the huge research interest in this genus. There is a need to explore the potential of native Pseudomonas spp. as biocontrol agents and to use them in biopesticide development to support sustainable agriculture.

Food security will be a substantial issue in the near future due to the expeditiously growing global population. The current trend in the agriculture industry entails the extravagant use of synthesized pesticides and fertilizers, making sustainability a difficult challenge. Land degradation, lower production, and vulnerability to both abiotic and biotic stresses are problems caused by the usage of these pesticides and fertilizers. The major goal of sustainable agriculture is to ameliorate productivity and reduce pests and disease prevalence to such a degree that prevents large-scale damage to crops. Agriculture is a composite interrelation among plants, microbes, and soil. Plant microbes play a major role in growth promotion and improve soil fertility as well. Bacillus spp. produces an extensive range of bio-chemicals that assist in plant disease control, promote plant development, and make them suitable for agricultural uses. Bacillus spp. support plant growth by N fixation, P and K solubilization, and phytohormone synthesis, in addition to being the most propitious biocontrol agent. Moreover, Bacilli excrete extracellular metabolites, including antibiotics, lytic enzymes, and siderophores, and demonstrate antagonistic activity against phytopathogens. Bacillus spp. boosts plant resistance toward pathogens by inducing systemic resistance (ISR). The most effective microbial insecticide against insects and pests in agriculture is Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt). Additionally, the incorporation of toxin genes in genetically modified crops increases resistance to insects and pests. There is a constant increase in the identified Bacillus species as potential biocontrol agents. Moreover, they have been involved in the biosynthesis of metallic nanoparticles. The main objective of this review article is to display the uses and application of Bacillus specie as a promising biopesticide in sustainable agriculture. Bacillus spp. strains that are antagonistic and promote plant yield attributes could be valuable in developing novel formulations to lead the way toward sustainable agriculture.

Phytophthora capsici is a notorious fungus which infects many crop plants at their early and late growth stages. In the present study, twelve P. capsici isolates were morphologically characterized, and based on pathogenicity assays; two highly virulent isolates causing post-emergence damping-off on locally cultivated chilli pepper were screened. Two P. capsici isolates, HydPak1 (MF322868) and HydPk2 (MF322869) were identified based on internal transcribed spacer (ITS) sequence homology. Plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) play a significant role in disease suppression and plant growth promotion in various crops. Out of fifteen bacterial strains recovered from chilli rhizosphere, eight were found potential antagonists to P. capsici in vitro. Bacterial strains with strong antifungal potential were subjected to biochemical and molecular analysis. All tested bacterial strains, were positive for hydrogen cyanide (HCN), catalase production and indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) production (ranging from 6.10 to 56.23 µg ml⁻¹), while siderophore production varied between 12.5 and 33.5%. The 16S rRNA sequence analysis of tested bacterial strains showed 98–100% identity with Pseudomonas putida, P. libanensis, P. aeruginosa, Bacillus subtilis, B. megaterium, and B. cereus sequences available in the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) GenBank nucleotide database. All sequences of identified bacteria were submitted to GenBank for accessions numbers (MH796347-50, MH796355-56, MH801129 and MH801071). Greenhouse studies concluded that all tested bacterial strains significantly suppressed the P. capsici infections (52.3–63%) and enhanced the plant growth characters in chilli pepper. Efficacy of many of these tested rhizobacteria is being first time reported against P. capsici from Pakistan. Plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) exhibiting multiple traits may be used in the development of new, eco-friendly, and effective bioformulations as an alternative to synthetic fungicides.

Twenty-four analogues of benzimidazole-based thiazoles (1–24) were synthesized and assessed for their in vitro acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and butyrylcholinesterase (BuChE) inhibitory potential. All analogues were found to exhibit good inhibitory potential against cholinesterase enzymes, having IC₅₀ values in the ranges of 0.10 ± 0.05 to 11.10 ± 0.30 µM (for AChE) and 0.20 ± 0.050 µM to 14.20 ± 0.10 µM (for BuChE) as compared to the standard drug Donepezil (IC₅₀ = 2.16 ± 0.12 and 4.5 ± 0.11 µM, respectively). Among the series, analogues 16 and 21 were found to be the most potent inhibitors of AChE and BuChE enzymes. The number (s), types, electron-donating or -withdrawing effects and position of the substituent(s) on the both phenyl rings B & C were the primary determinants of the structure-activity relationship (SAR). In order to understand how the most active derivatives interact with the amino acids in the active site of the enzyme, molecular docking studies were conducted. The results obtained supported the experimental data. Additionally, the structures of all newly synthesized compounds were elucidated by using several spectroscopic methods like ¹³C-NMR, ¹H-NMR and HR EIMS.

Sustainable agriculture requires the application of bioinoculants to control plant pests and increase productivity. Thus, plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) have emerged as an alternative solution to the use of synthetic pesticides and fertilizers, which have toxic effects on human health and the environment. In this work, we review the main direct-action mechanisms of PGPR, such as biological nitrogen fixation, solubilization of elements such as phosphorus, zinc, and potassium, and the production of siderophores and phytohormones that stimulate plant growth. In addition, we analyze the indirect mechanisms of plant growth promotion such as antagonism toward phytopathogens. Finally, we explored the applications of PGPR under different abiotic stress conditions and the use of commercial bioinoculants. The present study highlights the importance of applying PGPR as a viable green alternative to improve the production and resilience of crops.