Biocontrol of phytopathogen fungi in citrus fruit

Abstract

The citrus production is one of the agricultural activities with most relevance in the world. Mexico occupies the fourth slot in the world on a level of production and Tamaulipas is amongst the states with more crops in the country. On the other hand, citrus fruits hold a great variety of diseases. In developed countries the losses to these diseases are from 5 to 20 percent of the crops and in developing countries almost a 50 percent and in the majority of these the losses are due to a fungi named phytopathogen. The main strategies used in the control of these diseases have been synthetic fungicides, nevertheless the use of these fungicides can affect nature and the human health. Biological control has been the most viable strategy in the combat of these diseases caused by phytopathogen. This strategy is based in the use of antagonist microorganisms that do their job through different mechanisms. The purpose of this work is to show the results of the studies based on the biocontrol of diseases caused by phytopathogen fungi.