V. How to make biological control successful in the field?
The success of microbiological control requires a sufficient understanding of the modes of action of the antagonist and also of its interactions with the plant, the pathogen and the rest of the microbiota. It takes time to achieve such understanding, and most of the BCAs already on the market were studied for > 20 yr before registration. However, the use of registered BCAs is limited, mostly because of the lack of efficacy and consistency of biological control. How to improve the performance of BCAs is a major question that scientists should address.