Neem as a potential biopesticide and biofertilizer - A review Devi Dipanjali1,*, Gogoi Rupjyoti2 1Mycology and Plant Pathology Laboratory Department of Botany, Gauhati University, Gauhati - 781014 2Department of Botany, Gauhati University, Gauhati - 781014 *Corresponding Author E-mail: sumidipa13@gmail.com
Online Published on 13 October, 2023. Abstract Rapid growing human population has pressurized farmers to produce food in a larger scale. Agrochemicals have enabled in the duplicate food production. However, surveys have documented in the contamination and impacts of agrochemicals in the soil. Thus there must be a shift from agrochemicals to organic pesticide and fertilizer, which will ultimately, preserves the natural fertility of soil and is also safe to the human kind. There are many botanicals which can be used as organic pesticide and fertilizers, among which neem is on the top of the botanicals. Neem (Azadirachta indica A. Juss) belongs to Meliaceae family, is a tropical evergreen tree, often referred to as “Tree of 21st century”. All parts of the plant particularly bark, leaves and root extracts were found effective against many pests and insects thus they possess biopesticidal activity. The presence of azadirachtin, a chemical compound obtained from neem acts as potential biopesticides. It inhibits their feeding ability, disrupts their growth and reproduction. Neem plant can also be used as biofertilizers, neem seed extract acts as a organic manure and thus control many pathogens. Neem is considered to be easily accessible, eco-friendly, biodegradable and cheap. Thus this review highlighted the importance of neem that ensures us to use it as biopesticide and biofertilizer. Top Keywords Agrochemicals, Botanicals, Biodegradable, Azadirachtin, Biopesticide and Biofertiliser. Top |