How microbiome studies could further improve biological control

Biological control is widely seen as a powerful alternative to replace unsustainable practices in agriculture. However, many potential biocontrol agents, especially such that are based on microorganisms, fail during the transition from laboratory and controlled small-scale experiments to practicable applications in agriculture. Although there are many different reasons why their implementations fail, they often have one detail in common, namely that targeted further experimentation and optimization could bring them over the required threshold for successful applications. Microbiome studies, which were extensively developed over the last years, harbor the potential to not only identify weak points of biological control agents, but also to improve their performance under field conditions. The aim of this commentary is to point out recent best-case examples and to provide a condensed overview of how microbiome studies can be implemented to further improve biological control. In addition, it should serve as a stimulus to convince other researchers to complement biological control studies with microbiome analyses.

Automated summary

Biological control is a powerful alternative in agriculture, but many potential biocontrol agents based on microorganisms fail during the transition to practicable applications. The key to success lies in targeted further experimentation and optimization.