Bioinsecticide ups fruit and veg production
control in the production of fruit and vegetables which is said to
provide a more effective and cheaper means of preventing crop
infestation.
Developing a bioinsecticide that is more effective than pesticides for controlling pests in greenhouses has been the aim of the project undertaken by a research team from the Public University of Navarre and commissioned by the Almería Fruit & Vegetable Exporters Association (COEXPHAL), reveals Alpha Galileo.
The COEXPHAL Association, based in the Spanish mainland province of Almería manages a surface area of about 18,000 hectares, primarily given over to greenhouse vegetables. Many of these crops (peppers, tomato, watermelon, melon, marrow, cucumber, beans and aubergine) have associated plant health problems that have an important impact on production costs. Some of the more serious problems in this respect originate in the larvae of the Llepidoptera Spodoptera exigua.
However, until now there has no commercial biological product that is currently effective in the control of this insect. In response to this problem, the Public University of Navarre has developed a bioinsecticide for COEXPHAL based on isolated elements of the S. exigua nucleopolyhedrovirus which, after undertaking experimental tests, have proved to be more efficient in controlling pests than chemical pesticides.
The researchers pointed out that the control of this insect by means of the application of chemical pesticides in greenhouses of the Association costs more than €6 million annually and that this system has in recent years become increasingly ineffective due to increasing resistance to the chemicals by the pest.
The team also points out that the development of bioinsecticides has become more relevant in recent years, given that the interest shown by growers and companies is now constantly increasing - the pests producing negative effects on the environment.
In short the research team says that bioinsecticide based on baculovirus - given its characteristics of safety, efficiency and specificity - is an ideal biological pest control agents for inclusion in integrated control programmes. Moreover, their insecticide action is especially useful against plant-devouring species that have developed multiple resistance to chemical pesticides.
The development of the bioinsecticide aimed to isolate S. Exigua multiple nucleopolyhedrovirus, something the research team says it has obtained after the discovery of dead larvae from a number of different habitats.
