ECOLOGICAL PROTECTION OF PLANTS USING BIOLOGICAL PRODUCTS FROM THE BASIDIOMYCETE FUNGUS FOMES FOMENTARIUS

The constant use of pesticides and mineral fertilizers, whichdestroy biological diversity in the soil, reduce the humus content and lead to a decrease in the yield of plants (corn, soybeans, rice, wheat) with the most valuable consumer properties and high susceptibility to diseases. The effectiveness of thebest resistance-inducing drugs reaches only 60-80% of the effectiveness of biocidal drugs.But they are not toxic, do not have a detrimental effect on the ecological system, are safe for humans (they do not have residual amounts of toxic chemicals in theproduct), increase immunity to pathogens, and increase resistance to drought, cold, temperature changes, and pests. Only the successful provision of the world's population with a quality product depends on the development oforganic farming, whichinvolves the use of only natural means to combat plant pests.Therefore, the main focus of our work was on testing a plant resistance inducer of an aqueous extract of the glucan-melanin complex (GMC) of the cell wall of the basidiomycete fungusFomes fomentariuscalledmikosan, whichexhibits powerful antioxidant, antibacterial, fungicidal, and antiviral activities.It isGMC that induces plant resistance to diseases by enhancing the synthesis of enzymes to resist infection and switching some metabolic reactions from the biosynthesis of constitutive metabolic compounds to the synthesis of phytoalexins and other antipathogenic substances. Mikosan underwent a full program of laboratory, small-scale, field industrial tests on many agricultural crops in different climatic zones of Ukraine, as well as toxicological studies, starting in 1998. It belongs to the fourth, lowest category of toxicity registered in Ukraine at the beginning of 2002.