Interaction of Metarhizium anisopliae Against Emergent Insect Pest Problems in the North-Eastern Tea Industry

Tea, which is a popular non-alcoholic protective beverage, offers numerous health benefits such as anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, anticancerous, and weight-loss effects. However, the moist and rain-fed conditions prevailing in the tea ecosystem favor rapid surveillance of devastating pests and pathogens, thus requiring constant application of plant protection formulations, including the agrochemicals, pesticides, and fertilizers to maintain bush health and quality tea production. The injudicious and rapid usage of chemical compounds has negative consequences, as the former deteriorates the native soil and environment, causing disruption of the active microbial gene pool in the rhizosphere and possessing an increased risk of pesticide resistance, and maximum residue limits. In intriguing of the above, exploiting the potential of alternative, non-chemical, and sustainable pest management tactics like entomopathogen fungi under integrated pest management has recently gained momentum as it is convinced that biocontrol agents, including the microbial biopesticides, are free of toxic chemicals and other harmful ingredients. The current article explores the interaction of Metarhizium anisopliae as a prominent entomopathogenic fungi for the sustainable management of emergent insect pest populations in North-Eastern tea industry. Additionally, recent trends in research on entomopathogen-mediated pest management in tea has been highlighted to provide a more dedicated web interface using bibliometrics and biblioshiny.