Except for a small number of cases in which biocontrol agents were
introduced from the site of origin of a weed (classical biocontrol), there
have been few cases where a pathogen was virulent enough to perform cost
effectively in the field as a mycoherbicide. Mycoherbicides are typically
weed species specific, so compatibility with herbicides used to control
other weeds is often studied. There can be a synergy between mycoherbicides
and herbicides at the field level due to overlapping weed spectra (such
synergies are not discussed in depth herein). Two approaches have been used
to ascertain whether there is synergy in controlling the target weed: (1)
random screening with herbicides; (2) using herbicides as antimetabolites to
inhibit specific pathways, enhancing virulence. Glyphosate is the most
common herbicide to synergize mycoherbicides, possibly due to its dual
function as an inhibitor of biosynthesis of phenylpropanoid phytoalexins by
suppressing enolphosphate-shikimate phosphate synthase, or by suppressing
callose production (by inhibiting callose synthase) as well as inhibiting
other calcium-dependent pathways due to the calcium-chelating properties of
glyphosate.