Review Potential applications of olive mill wastewater as biopesticide for crops protection Abdelilah El-Abbassi a, ⁎, Nabila Saadaoui b , Hajar Kiai a , Jihane Raiti a , Abdellatif Hafidi a a Food Sciences Laboratory, Department of Biology, Faculty of Sciences – Semlalia, Cadi Ayyad University, P.O. Box: 2390, 40001 Marrakech, Morocco b Department of Biology, Faculty of Sciences – Semlalia, Cadi Ayyad University, P.O. Box: 2390, 40001 Marrakech, Morocco HIGHLIGHTS • The potential use of olive mill wastewa- ter as biopesticides against plant patho- gens is reviewed. • OMW can be used to suppress the growth of the main phytopathogenic species. • Some measures should be respected es- pecially in regards of dose and timing of use. • The naturally occurring chemicals pres- ent in OMW have high potential to be used as biopesticides. GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT abstract article info Article history: Received 6 August 2016 Received in revised form 4 October 2016 Accepted 4 October 2016 Available online xxxx Editor: Jay Gan Olive mill waste water (OMW) is a major environmental problem because of its high organic load, its phytotox- icity and antimicrobial properties. Many studies recognized that these wastes have a high fertilizer value when applied to the soil because of the high organic matter content and some mineral nutrient content. In addition, soil amendment with OMW is also known for its antimicrobial activity and suppressive effects against plant path- ogens. In this paper, the potential use of olive mill wastewater as biopesticides against plant pathogens is discussed. The effects of OMW application on soil and crops are also reported. The OMW can be used to suppress the growth of the main bacterial, fungal phytopathogens and weed species without any negative effects on crop growth. Nevertheless, some measures should be respected when using OMW as biopesticide especially in regards of dose and timing of use. © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: Olive mill wastewater Phenolic compounds Biopesticides Plant pathogens Diseases control Contents 1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 2. Olive mill wastewater characteristics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Science of the Total Environment 576 (2017) 10–21 ⁎ Corresponding author at: Food Sciences Laboratory, Department of Biology, Faculty of Sciences – Semlalia, Marrakech, Morocco. E-mail address: a.elabbassi@ced.uca.ma (A. El-Abbassi). http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2016.10.032 0048-9697/© 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Science of the Total Environment journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/scitotenv