Page 506 - AWSAR 2.0

482 || AWSAR Awarded Popular Science Stories - 2019
Nomurea rileyi Paecilomyces marquandii Paecilomyces acridomorphum
infecting rice caterillar infecting robber fly infecting rice grasshopper
grass and dies hanging there by biting the tip of the leaf. With the days passing, the antenna- like structure develops piercing from the head or different parts of the body of the insect, and from there, a mass of fungal powder bursts out and seeks its new target insect. The fungus does this for two reasons, first, to suck out essentials nutrients from the body of the insect for its own survival, and second, to use the trapped insect as the source of multiplication of its own clan and increase its dynasty.
Isn’t this fungus so clever enough to have such smartest survival
tactics and the way they
control the insect population so
dynamically ... can I call them good fungus? Wait! Let me tell you what more these fungi are capable of.
The more astonishing thing
about these particular fungal microorganisms is that they not
only kill insects but also attack
other microorganisms such
as bacteria or fungi. Sounds
strange, isn’t it? No doubt, the microorganisms they attack are
bad bacteria and fungi, which
destroy our food grains and
make them ill and poisonous.
I am talking about those yield
loss problems all agriculturists
usually talk about when
they refer to these bad bacteria and fungi causing many diseases in our rice, wheat,
tomato, sorghum, chili, brinjal and many other important crops.
Also, being microorganisms, what special do these fungi have that they can also attack other microorganisms?
Here, the fungus is quite smart enough to utilize different arsenals to fight against bad microorganisms. First, it tries to weaken the protective shield of those microorganisms by releasing several toxic enzymes, which plays an important role to dissolve the shield and make pores on it. So, once the outer cell
wall protection weakens, these microorganisms become prone to other external environments that stake their survival chances. You know in nature, whether it’s food, shelter or essential micronutrients, everything exists in a limit, and the one who grabs it earliest is the fitter to survive. Second, the fungus then gives these bad microorganisms a very tough competition when it comes to grabbing essential micronutrients such as iron and ammonia from the soil that determines its attacking nature as well as let other microorganisms starve to death.
Do these fungi affect our crop in the process?
Surprisingly, these fungi help our crops
Surprisingly, these fungi help our crops to grow strong by providing essential nutrients for which we usually depend on fertilizers. Not only that, these fungi also do miracles with their capability of growing inside
the plant body without even affecting it. In this process, they create wonders by increasing their immunity manifolds, so they can protect our plants from external dangers such as insects or bad microorganisms.