Post-harvest bacterial infections pose a serious threat to modern agriculture, resulting in substantial financial losses and environmental issues. Every year, microbial spoiling causes a significant loss in fruit and vegetable production, and traditional control techniques are frequently insufficient. This review highlights novel delivery systems such as edible films and coatings while analyzing recent developments in bacteriophage-based post-harvest disease management techniques. Bacterial resistance, environmental stability, and regulatory issues restrict the use of bacteriophages, despite their high specificity, biodegradability, and low environmental impact. Phage viability in storage and the field has increased thanks to developments in formulation technologies, such as encapsulation and stabilization. The review highlights the practical implementation of phage applications in post-harvest disease management, with a particular focus on innovative delivery systems as well as integrating legal and regulatory viewpoints. By bridging scientific innovation with legal and commercial considerations, this work offers an interdisciplinary foundation for advancing sustainable, phage-based approach.

Bacterial diseases cause significant economic losses and pose a major challenge to global crop yields. These diseases reduce yields and affect food security, particularly for small-scale farmers in developing regions. Post-harvest losses also contribute to resource waste, soil degradation, and deforestation. Conventional management strategies, such as synthetic fungicides and antimicrobials, raise concerns about environmental sustainability, human health, and pathogen resistance. Bacteriophages—viruses that selectively infect bacterial pathogens—offer a highly specific and eco-friendly alternative for disease management both post-harvest and pre-harvest, reducing the need for chemical pesticides throughout the plant lifecycle. This review examines bacteriophage biology, advantages over traditional treatments, and challenges to their application. Phages effectively target pathogens such as Pectobacterium, Xanthomonas, Xylella, Clavibacter, and Dickeya, while preserving beneficial microorganisms. Key challenges include bacterial resistance, regulatory hurdles, and phage stability under environmental conditions. Advances in phage genomics, bioengineering, and formulation have enhanced viability and efficacy, supporting phages as promising biocontrol agents. Integrating phage therapy with other eco-friendly strategies may improve effectiveness further. Future research should focus on optimizing production, refining regulations, and large-scale field studies to ensure practical feasibility. Addressing these issues will help bacteriophages contribute significantly to sustainable plant disease management and global food security.

Modern agriculture and plant breeding must continuously meet the high and increasingly growing requirements of consumers and recipients. In this context, one of the conditions for effective management of any farm is access to quick and efficient diagnostics of plant pathogens, the result of which, together with the assessment of experts, provide breeders with tools to effectively reduce the occurrence of plant diseases. This paper presents information about biodiversity and spectrum of endophytic and phytopathogenic bacterial species identified in plant samples delivered to the Plant Disease Clinic in 2013-2019. During the tests, using the Biolog Gen III system, the species affiliation of the majority of detected bacterial strains found in plant tissues as an endophyte and not causing disease symptoms on plants was determined. These data were compiled and compared with the number of found identifications for a given species and data on the pathogenicity of bacterial species towards plants. In this way, valuable information for the scientific community was obtained about the species composition of the bacterial microbiome of the crop plants studied by us, which were confronted with available literature data. In the study, special attention was paid to tomato, which is the plant most often supplied for testing in the Plant Disease Clinic due to its economic importance.

The intensification of agriculture, including excessive use of fertilizers and pesticides, has reduced soil fertility and harmed biodiversity. Thus, interest in sustainable alternatives such as plant growth promoting bacteria (PGPB) is growing. These microbes aid plants via nitrogen fixation, phosphate solubilization, phytohormone production, and pathogen suppression. Most PGPB come from soil and plant tissues, but insect-associated bacteria remain a largely unexplored reservoir. Insects harbor diverse microbial communities inhabiting their guts and cuticle surfaces. Due to their varied diets and broad ecological distribution, insects may serve as reservoirs for bacterial strains with unique functional traits. This review summarizes the current state of knowledge regarding insect-derived PGPB, focusing on their ecological roles, functional capabilities, and potential applications in agriculture. Key aspects addressed include microbial diversity in insects, mechanisms of plant growth promotion, insect–microbe–plant interactions, and methodological approaches for the isolation and characterization of these bacteria. Several studies are highlighted to illustrate successful applications of insect-associated PGPB in improving plant health and disease resistance. Although this research area remains in its early stages, it holds considerable potential for the development of novel biopesticides and biofertilizers. By integrating microbiological, entomological, and agricultural perspectives, insect-derived PGPB may contribute to the advancement of more sustainable and resilient farming systems. This review aims to underscore the importance of expanding the search for effective PGPB to include insect microbiomes and to encourage further research in this promising field.