Endophytic Fungi: Biocontrol Agents for Postharvest Disease-Causing Pathogenic Fungi

Today’s modern agriculture system is facing a major problem regarding the storage of foods after harvesting. These postharvest fungal infections negatively affect food security as more than 30% of food is getting wasted during postharvest operations. In this case, fungal pathogens are playing a major role behind these losses. So, they are needed to be controlled at the earliest. Synthetic fungicides can prevent these pathogens, but their toxicity toward humans, animals, and the environment is raising serious questions. The solitary solution could be green remedies like metabolites extracted from natural entities. Other than phytometabolites, microbial metabolites are also effective in controlling phytopathogens. Biocontrol agents are the good option against this problem as they are known to have fungicidal ability, mainly for protecting postharvest products like fruits, vegetables, and grains. Nowadays, secondary metabolites from untapped sources like endophytic fungi are acting as the rich hub for antimicrobial metabolites with multidomain utility in the field of agriculture. These metabolites are safe and are applied in the form of foliar/root spray. Endophytic fungi can also be a promising biocontrol agent as it protects the host plant from pest infection for its entire life cycle. So, inevitably endophytic fungi and their metabolites can prevent postharvest pathogens and become a permanent alternative to synthetic fungicides. This chapter extensively summarizes the role of endophytic fungi in preventing postharvest fungal diseases in cash crops.