**3. Conclusion**

Plant pathogens are a worldwide problem. A variety of approaches may be applied to control plant diseases. Beyond suitable agronomic performances, farmers frequently rely on chemicals. Environmental pollution and carcinogenic effects of pesticides are limiting factors in the success of their application. Nowadays, there are severe regulations and political pressure to remove the most dangerous chemicals from the market. So, biological control could be the best alternative against plant pathogens, and development of mutants is an important technique in strain

**135**

provided the original work is properly cited.

© 2018 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium,

*Application of Radiation and Genetic Engineering Techniques to Improve Biocontrol Agent…*

improvement toward plant pathogen suppression, which yields reliable strains for biocontrol. Since strains bred by mutagenesis can get registration (from environmental protection agencies) more easily than strains produced by protoplast fusion and transformation or via gene cloning for field use, more attention should be paid to the mutagenic methods. In an agricultural environment, mutants are interacting and competing with various communities of microorganisms that can have intense effects on the survival and performance of the introduced mutants. Hence, before commercial application of such inoculants in an open environment, their behaviors and potential impact on ecosystems should be investigated as part of the risk assessment. Additionally, integrated treatment of irradiation and biocontrol agent has the potential as an alternative means for postharvest disease control. In fact, there is a limited dose rate for its application on postharvest diseases of fruits and vegetables. Thus, the combination of irradiation and biocontrol agent increases applied range of irradiation for postharvest control by decreasing of dose rate to which the product has been exposed. From our point of view, considering different aspects of irradiation may provide useful information for managing harmful microorganisms on crops, so that in the near future, this technique will be used as one of the most important research

tools for biotechnologists, plant pathologists, and molecular biologists.

Authors want to thank Prof. Vahe Minassian from Tarbiat Modares University

1 Department of Plant Health, Estonian University of Life Sciences, Estonia

2 Department of Plants and Crops, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Ghent

4 Department of Crop Science and Plant Biology, Estonian University of Life

School, Nuclear Science and Technology Research Institute, Karaj, Iran

\*Address all correspondence to: m.mirmajlessi@gmail.com

3 Department of Plant Protection, Agricultural, Medical and Industrial Research

, Evelin Loit4

,

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.81964*

**Acknowledgements**

**Author details**

Sciences, Estonia

for critical reading of the manuscript.

Neda Najdabbasi1,2 and Marika Mänd1

University, Ghent, Belgium

Seyed Mahyar Mirmajlessi1,2\*, Hossein Ahari Mostafavi3

*Application of Radiation and Genetic Engineering Techniques to Improve Biocontrol Agent… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.81964*

improvement toward plant pathogen suppression, which yields reliable strains for biocontrol. Since strains bred by mutagenesis can get registration (from environmental protection agencies) more easily than strains produced by protoplast fusion and transformation or via gene cloning for field use, more attention should be paid to the mutagenic methods. In an agricultural environment, mutants are interacting and competing with various communities of microorganisms that can have intense effects on the survival and performance of the introduced mutants. Hence, before commercial application of such inoculants in an open environment, their behaviors and potential impact on ecosystems should be investigated as part of the risk assessment. Additionally, integrated treatment of irradiation and biocontrol agent has the potential as an alternative means for postharvest disease control. In fact, there is a limited dose rate for its application on postharvest diseases of fruits and vegetables. Thus, the combination of irradiation and biocontrol agent increases applied range of irradiation for postharvest control by decreasing of dose rate to which the product has been exposed. From our point of view, considering different aspects of irradiation may provide useful information for managing harmful microorganisms on crops, so that in the near future, this technique will be used as one of the most important research tools for biotechnologists, plant pathologists, and molecular biologists.
