Use of endophytes in plant protection | Primjena endofitnih organizama u zaštiti bilja

English. Constant use of systemic pesticides can increase the yield and quality of crops, but also leads to increased resistance and to appearance of residues in food and the environment. Therefore, the intention is to replace environmentally unfriendly plant protection methods with alternative ones. Biological protection of plants is the opposite of the use of pesticides and has a positive effect on biodiversity and the development of biological cycles. One of the forms of biological protection is the application of endophytic organisms that inhabit the plant in their life cycle, but do not harm it at any stage of their growth and development. It is currently known that there are over a million species of endophytic microorganisms which on average suggests that each plant hosts three to four species. The benefits that the host plant has are multiple, such as improved growth and development, protection from pests, better absorption of nutrients, greater resistance to abiotic and biotic stress.

Croatian. Stalna uporaba sistemičnih pesticida može povećati prinos i kvalitetu usjeva, ali dovodi do povećanja rezistentnosti štetnih organizama, ali i do pojavnosti rezidua u hrani i okolišu. Stoga je namjera okolišno šetne načine zaštite bilja zamijeniti alternativnima, koristeći ekološki prihvatljivije komponente. Biološka zaštita bilja suprotnost je korištenju kemijskih pesticida te pozitivno utječe na bioraznolikost i razvoj bioloških ciklusa. Jedan od oblika biološke zaštite je i primjena endofitnih organizama koji u svom životnom ciklusu nastanjuju biljku, ali joj ne čine štetu niti u jednom stadiju svoga rasta i razvoja. Trenutno je poznato kako postoji preko milijun vrsta endofitnim mikroorganizama što u prosjeku govori kako je svaka biljka domaćin tri do četiri vrste. Dobrobiti koje biljka domaćin ima su višestruki, poput poboljšanog rasta i razvoja, zaštite od štetnika, bolje apsorpcije nutrijenata, veće otpornosti na abiotski i biotski stres.