Next-Generation Microbial Biopesticides for Sustainable Crop Protection and Deployment

Agriculture faces mounting pressure from climate change, pest resistance, and the need to balance productivity with ecological sustainability. While chemical pesticides have historically safeguarded yields, their long-term impacts, including soil degradation, biodiversity loss, and the development of resistance (Purohit et al., 2026), underscore the need for alternative crop protection strategies.Microbial biopesticides, derived from bacteria, fungi, and viruses, provide selective pest control with lower toxicity and greater compatibility with ecological farming systems (Fenibo et al., 2026). However, adoption remains constrained by inconsistent field performance, environmental sensitivity, and formulation limits that reduce reliability under variable conditions (O'Callaghan et al., 2022).Recent advances in genomics, synthetic biology, and formulation science are improving strain selection, stability, and efficacy (Mawcha et al., 2025). When integrated with precision agriculture, digital tools, and evolving regulatory systems, next-generation microbial biopesticides are increasingly positioned as components of integrated pest management, supporting climate resilience, food security, and sustainable agricultural intensification.Despite advances in microbial biopesticide discovery and controlled-environment efficacy, achieving stable, scalable field performance remains an unresolved challenge. Current research prioritizes strain selection, toxicity profiling, and greenhouse validation, yet offers limited insight into functional instability under heterogeneous agroecological conditions and how environmental variability governs microbial viability and persistence (Bouri et al., 2026). Concurrently, formulation science and deployment systems remain poorly integrated, resulting in persistent fragmentation among biological innovation, delivery platforms, and regulatory validation. This fragmentation is reinforced by non-uniform standards across jurisdictions, limiting reproducibility and slowing technology diffusion. Together, these constraints reveal a systemic disconnect between laboratory-optimized microbial systems and field-deployable biopesticide technologies.This study examines the translational determinants of next-generation microbial biopesticides for sustainable crop protection. It aims to characterize constraints on field-scale performance and deployment reliability, evaluate advances in genomic and formulation engineering to enhance functional stability, assess interactions with precision agriculture systems to improve application efficiency, and analyze regulatory structures that shape adoption. The study further synthesizes pathways to bridge laboratory innovation and field implementation within integrated pest management frameworks.ReferencesBouri, M., Agha, T., & Şahin, F. (2026). Microbial Inoculants for Climate-Resilient Food Systems: Ecological Limits, Context Dependency, and Evidence Gaps. Challenges, 17(2), 17.Fenibo, E. O., Doussau, A. G., Thepbandit, W., & Matambo, T. (2026). Biopesticides: their contributions towards achieving Sustainable Development Goal (SDG-2). Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems, 10, 1788052.Mawcha, K. T., Malinga, L., Muir, D., Ge, J., & Ndolo, D. (2025). Recent advances in biopesticide research and development with a focus on microbials. F1000Research, 13, 1071.O'Callaghan, M., Ballard, R. A., & Wright, D. (2022). Soil microbial inoculants for sustainable agriculture: Limitations and opportunities. Soil Use and Management, 38(3), 1340-1369.Purohit, A., Kounain, S., Madala, C., Chavan, S., Guguloth, N., Kethavathu, S., ... & Thakur, N. R. (2026). Sustainable Crops for Future Food Security: Challenges, Innovations, and Solutions. In Improving Crops for Future Sustainability and Climate Resilience (pp. 1-40). Singapore: Springer Nature Singapore.In advancing the objectives of this special issue, contributions are structured to foreground emerging scientific and technological directions in microbial biopesticide research and application. The scope prioritizes innovations that strengthen the effectiveness, reliability, and scalability of biological crop protection systems. Authors are encouraged to contribute within the following thematic areas:1. Discovery, Functional Biology and Predictive DesignThis pillar focuses on identifying and engineering microbial biocontrol agents using genomics, multi-omics, machine learning, and genome-to-function prediction. Contributions are invited on mechanisms of action, including metabolites, enzymes, entomopathogens, endophytes, induced systemic resistance, and plant–microbiome interactions, as well as on synthetic microbial consortia and ecological network dynamics that support functional stability in agroecosystems.2. Formulation Engineering and Climate-Resilient Delivery SystemsThis pillar addresses constraints limiting field efficacy and persistence. Topics include encapsulation technologies, carrier systems, seed coating, granular and wettable powder formulations, and approaches to improving shelf life via UV protection, desiccation tolerance, and stress resilience. Studies on microbial performance under heat, drought, salinity, and high-radiation conditions are encouraged, alongside advances in fermentation and scalable production.3. Field Deployment, Agricultural Integration and Regulatory TranslationThis pillar focuses on operationalizing microbial biopesticides in agricultural systems. It includes precision agriculture integration, decision-support tools, reduced-risk pest management, and deployment models. Submissions addressing regulatory harmonization, biosafety assessment, adoption pathways, and commercialization frameworks are encouraged, especially those that link scientific innovation to policy and market uptake.The special issue welcomes Original Research Articles, Reviews, Systematic Reviews, Critical Reviews, Mini-Reviews, Perspectives, Brief Research Reports, and Data Reports across these pillars. Topic editors: Emmanuel Oliver Fenibo, Wannaporn Thepbandit Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/84559/next-generation-microbial-biopesticides-for-sustainable-crop-protection-and-deployment