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XVIII Meeting of the Working Group “Biological and Integrated Control of Plant Pathogens”

Welcome to the XVIII IOBC-WPRS Working Group meeting on Biological and Integrated Control of Plant Pathogens!

The general goal of the Working Group is to promote cooperation among scientists, facilitate the exchange of expertise on biological control against plant diseases caused by plant pathogens, and support its implementation in agriculture across the West Palaearctic Region and beyond. 

The XVIII meeting, “Towards a holistic understanding of biocontrol systems”, will explore biocontrol from a systems perspective, moving beyond the characterization of individual biocontrol agents to better understand their interactions with the plant, the pathogen, the native microbiome and the surrounding environment. Despite the large number of promising biocontrol agents identified, achieving consistent performance under field conditions remains a major challenge. Understanding the agro-ecological context in which biocontrol agents are introduced—including their establishment, persistence and interactions within the receiving ecosystem—is therefore essential for developing more reliable biocontrol strategies.

The meeting will address this challenge across scales, from molecular interactions and chemical ecology to microbiome-based approaches, multi-omics and predictive tools, formulation and field application. It will also consider emerging and complex plant diseases, integration of biocontrol into crop protection systems, new genomic technologies, and the economic, regulatory and adoption challenges associated with future biocontrol solutions.