
doi: 10.5772/13776
handle: 11584/83177
Future agricultural and rural development is, to a large extent, influenced by the rapidly increasing food demand of 2.5 billion people expected to swell the world population by 2020. Achieving food sufficiency in a sustainable manner is a major challenge for farmers, agro-industries, researchers and governments (Schillhorn van Veen, 1999). The intensification of agriculture to fulfil food needs has increased the number of insect pest species attacking different crops and as a result the annual production losses of the standing crops. In the past, synthetic pesticides have played a major role in crop protection programmes and have immensely benefited mankind. Nevertheless, their indiscriminate use has resulted in the development of resistance by pests (insects,weeds, etc), resurgence and outbreak of new pests, toxicity to non-target organisms and hazardous effects on the environment endangering the sustainability of ecosystems (Jeyasankar & Jesudasan, 2005). In the recent years the EU has employed a fundamental reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) highlighting the respect to the environmental, food safety and animal welfare standards, imposing farmlands’ cross-compliance with good agricultural and environmental conditions (Schillhorn van Veen, 1999). Due to environmental side effects and health concerns, many synthetic carbamate, organophosphate, and organophthalide pesticides have been banned (Council Directive 91/414/EEC) or are being under evaluation (Regulation 2009/1107/EC OL & Directive 2009/128/EC). On the other hand, industry does not equally sustain the economic cost of research and registration, of all pesticides’ chemical classes. The development of nematicides is rarely supported, even though in some cases, such as in the Netherlands, they represent more than 60% of the total pesticides used in agriculture (Chitwood, 2002). This is due to the fact that nematodes are a rather difficult target and the economic cost of research and registration is an enormous hurdle for a prospective new synthetic nematicide to overcome (Chitwood, 2002). As a result, currently there are only few nematicides left in use, and their limited number makes the repeated applications of the same formulation, inevitable. This fact has led to the enhancement nematicides biodegradation in soil (Qui et al., 2004 , Karpouzas et al., 2004, Arbeli & Fuentes, 2007) and the development of resistance in pests. (Meher et al., 2009) These two phenomena are expressed in field as lack of efficacy of the applied pesticides. All the above facts necessitate the urge for new and alternative pest control methods (Chitwood, 2002). An interesting way of searching for biorational pesticides is screening naturally occurring compounds in plants (Isman, 2006; 2008). Plants, as long-lived stationary organisms, must
| selected citations These citations are derived from selected sources. This is an alternative to the "Influence" indicator, which also reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically). | 7 | |
| popularity This indicator reflects the "current" impact/attention (the "hype") of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network. | Top 10% | |
| influence This indicator reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically). | Average | |
| impulse This indicator reflects the initial momentum of an article directly after its publication, based on the underlying citation network. | Average |
