United Kingdom
December 14, 2017
A new Green Revolution is needed in crop protection and biopesticides will play an important role in integrated pest management (IPM) strategies in the future, according to the University of Warwick’s David Chandler (pictured).
At the 2017 AHDB Agronomists’ Conference, David outlined how work funded by AHDB Horticulture looks to improve confidence in biopesticides, via a project targeted at the UK’s protected commercial crops.
Although conducted in controlled environments, the ‘AMBER’ project will provide valuable information which could eventually see usage in field crops increase significantly.
A recent edition of the AHDB Grower magazine contained a great introduction to biopesticides and AMBER.
Pestbusters
AHDB Grower article – October/November edition 2017
Since the 1950s, pest management in the UK has primarily been based around a reliance on the use of synthetic chemical pesticides. However, the use of these as the backbone of crop protection is becoming ever more difficult, thanks, in particular, to increased resistance in target pest populations and the withdrawal of effective products based on ‘old’ chemistry because of new legislation.
As such, many progressive growers are now turning to Integrated Pest Management (IPM), a system in which a range of different crop protection tools are combined together in complementary ways. This includes the application of biopesticides with the aim of achieving effective pest control without harming the environment or increasing the chance of pest resistance.
According to Defra, there are around 67,000 different crop pest species – including plant pathogens, weeds, and invertebrates – and, together, they cause about a 40 per cent reduction in the world’s crop yield. Therefore, it is no surprise that the popularity of this form of crop protection is growing rapidly, with the EPA estimating that in 2012 (the most recent year for which there was data) over 18 million acres were treated with biopesticides in the US alone.
What are biopesticides?
Put simply, a biopesticide is any crop protection agent based on living micro-organisms or natural products (often an insect) that can be used as a pest control device through its predation of pests or problem plants.
There are three main types of biopesticide:
> Bioinsecticides
> Bioherbicides
> Biofungicides
Bioinsecticides are those biological agents that are used to control harmful insects. They include predators, microbes, pathogens and naturally occurring substances. This group contains the bacterial biopesticide most widely used against insect pests – Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) – as well as semiochemicals, which are chemical compounds produced by one organism and which induce a behavioural change in other organisms. The most widely used semiochemicals that you’re likely to have come across are insect sex pheromones, which are deployed in pest monitoring, mating disruption and trapping.
The second type, bioherbicides, are tasked with controlling pest weeds that grow between crops but without harming the valuable crop itself.
Biofungicides, meanwhile, consist of beneficial fungi and bacteria that attack and colonise harmful plant pathogenic fungi and bacteria. Many are naturally occurring in soil, making them an environmentally friendly pest control tool.
The AHDB, working in conjunction with The Warwick Crop Centre and others, launched the AMBER project (CP 158) in 2016 to increase awareness of the benefits and uses of biopesticides.
Leading the project, AMBER’s Dave Chandler, gave the following insight:
“An increasing number of biopesticide products are reaching the market, while at the same time the availability of conventional synthetic chemical pesticides is declining.
On paper, biopesticides have some attractive properties for use in IPM, such as being exempt for residue testing and very low re-entry intervals after spraying. However, because they are new products, growers do not have much experience yet of using them and some growers have reported variable results.
“The purpose of the AMBER project is to develop sets of management practices that growers can use to improve the performance of biopesticides, which includes practical measures such as optimising spray application, together with generating new information of application timing and compatibility with other IPM tools.”
With Brexit on the horizon and uncertainty surrounding the legalities of chemical pesticide usage going forward, biopesticides are becoming an ever more attractive option for UK growers. The challenge, however, is getting the most out of them in a cost-effective way.
Taking place on 5 to 6 December 2017 at Peterborough Arena, the AHDB Agronomists' Conference focused on how the industry is working together to protect the sustainability of the production of cereals, oilseeds and potatoes.
To access the presentations, videos and news, visit the conference web page: cereals.ahdb.org.uk/agconf
***Watch David Chandler's presentation***
What types of bioinsecticide* are there?
Bioinsecticides usually come in three forms:
- Predators and nematodes: Destructive insects or plant pests can be brought under control through introduction of their natural predators. For example, ladybirds can eradicate some types of aphids
- Parasites and pathogens: Organisms that naturally control pests. This type includes viruses, bacteria, fungi and insect parasitoids.
- Natural insecticides: Naturally occurring pesticides which are obtained from microbes and plants. They are often the plant or microbe’s own defence against pests. This includes nicotine, for example.
*It should be noted that, although from a scientific standpoint predators, parasitoids and nematodes are types of biopesticide, pesticide regulators do not class them as such. Why does this matter? Well, because biopesticides are subject to plant protection products regulations in the same way that conventional pesticides are, including getting authorisation from EFSA for use. Predators, parasitoids and nematodes, on the other hand, are not and require completely different types of regulation. This is also why you need pesticide handling certificates, such as PA6 and 7, in order to work with biopesticides.
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