Consider the following:

1. Minerals

2. Flowering plants

3. Virus

Which of the above can be used as biopesticides?

The correct answer is ​1, 2 and 3.

Key Points

• Biopesticides are certain types of pesticides derived from such natural materials as animals, plants, bacteria, and certain minerals. Hence 1, 2 and 3 are correct.
• Biochemical pesticides are naturally occurring substances that control pests by non-toxic mechanisms.
  • Conventional pesticides, by contrast, are generally synthetic materials that directly kill or inactivate the pest.
• Microbial pesticides consist of a microorganism (e.g., a bacterium, fungus, virus or protozoan) as the active ingredient.
  • Microbial pesticides can control many different kinds of pests, although each separate active ingredient is relatively specific for its target pests.
  • For example, there are fungi that control certain weeds and other fungi that kill specific insects.
  • The most widely used microbial pesticides are subspecies and strains of Bacillus thuringiensis, or Bt.
    • Each strain of this bacterium produces a different mix of proteins and specifically kills one or a few related species of insect larvae.
• Plant-Incorporated-Protectants (PIPs) are pesticide substances that plants produce from genetic material that has been added to the plant.
  • For example, scientists can take the gene for the Bt pesticidal protein and introduce the gene into the plant's own genetic material.
  • Then the plant, instead of the Bt bacterium, manufactures the substance that destroys the pest.
    • Neem tree is widely used in India as a biopesticide.
• Certain minerals like Nahcolite are used as biopesticides in certain regions of the world. 
• Canola oil and baking soda have pesticidal applications and are considered biopesticides.