With respect to fungicides, not to offense someone:
"A large spectrum of pesticides is used to manage crop pests. But as an alternative, and to reduce the harmful effects of chemicals on non-pest organisms and human, new eco-friendly strategies for controlling crop pests have been developed. These biological controls include the use of microbial pathogens like viruses, bacteria and fungi. Modern crop management integrates these different techniques in a compatible manner leading to an integrated pest management (IPM) (Maredia et al., 2003). The most extensively used biological agents are fungi, which are often associated with insects [around 750 species are pathogens of insects (Carruthers and Soper, 1987)]. Entomopathogenic fungi and chemical insecticides used together significantly improve the lethality of control agents. Indeed, when fungi are delivered with sub-lethal doses of pesticides, they interact synergistically in killing insects (Purwar and Sachan, 2006). Among the insecticides, the neonicotinoid imidacloprid is one of the most effective in interacting synergistically with fungi. And IPM using the synergy between imidacloprid and fungal spores is commonly used for killing a variety of insect pests, like termites, thrips and leaf-cutter ants (Ramakrishnan et al., 1999; Al Mazraáwi, 2007; Valmir Santos et al., 2007)."
Cédric Alaux et al. Interactions between Nosema microspores and neonicotinoid weaken honeybees (Apis mellifera). Environmental Microbiology (2010)12(3) 774-782
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2847190/
Kind regards,
Ghislain De Roeck,
Belgium.
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