{"id":225786,"date":"2016-10-04T14:41:01","date_gmt":"2016-10-04T17:41:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/?p=225786"},"modified":"2017-08-18T14:13:34","modified_gmt":"2017-08-18T17:13:34","slug":"bioinsecticide-made-of-microorganisms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/bioinsecticide-made-of-microorganisms\/","title":{"rendered":"Bioinsecticide made of microorganisms"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Nematode

Miguel Boyayan <\/span>Nematode production at the Biology Institute of CampinasMiguel Boyayan <\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

After 15 years of research, a new technology for biological pest control is ready for commercial use. It is a biopesticide made \u200b\u200bfrom nematodes, tiny worms, less than a millimeter in size, that live in the soil. They are to be used in combating insects and other organisms that attack crops such as sugarcane, ornamental plants and eucalyptus. The new biological insecticide was developed by agronomist and entomologist Lu\u00eds Garrig\u00f3s Leite, of the Campinas unit of the Biology Institute, under the S\u00e3o Paulo State Department of Agriculture and Food Supply. He began his work in 2002, and the following year, he continued it in partnership with the company Bio Controle, located in Indaiatuba (S\u00e3o Paulo State); the company engages in the monitoring and control of agricultural pests, through a project of the Innovative Research in Small Businesses Program (PIPE), supported by FAPESP. The company is about to market the product to farmers. The nematodes will be sold \u200b\u200bwith the worms wrapped in diatomite, a mineral powder that leaves the worms moist and in a dormant state. The worms only become active when the product is diluted in water.<\/p>\n

\u201cNematodes are used in the United States and Europe mainly to control soil pests that attack the root, and in cryptic environments, which are enclosed with little light, such as drainage holes made \u200b\u200bby drills in plants, for example,\u201d says Leite. To create the biopesticide, step one was to isolate and select nematodes of interest. Many of these worms are harmful to a host of agricultural crops such as soybeans and sugarcane. Leite selected the species he considered would be useful, such as worms of the genera Steinernema <\/em>and Heterorhabditis <\/em>and bacteria of the genera Xenorhabdus <\/em>and Photorhabdus<\/em>, respectively, which form a natural symbiosis to destroy crop pests. \u201cFor sugarcane we work mainly with Steinernema brazilense <\/em>to control the weevil [Sphenophorus levis] <\/em>that attacks this plant. For protected cultivation of ornamental plants and mushrooms, we use Steinernema feltiae <\/em>and Heterorhabditis indica, <\/em>and Steinernema rarum <\/em>to control the fungus gnat [Bradysia <\/em>sp.].\u201d Despite the name, the fungus gnat is an insect.<\/p>\n

Leite says that when the nematodes encounter the insects, they enter the insect\u2019s body through its natural orifices, and once inside, they release bacteria that causes septicemia, which kills the insect within 48 hours. \u201cThe symbiosis is an advantageous combination for the two species,\u201d he says. \u201cBacteria cannot survive in an open environment, only in the intestines of nematodes. In addition to housing them, they can carry them to a new host. In return, the bacteria produce enzymes that digest the insect tissue, providing food for the worm.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Bacteria

Lu\u00eds Leite \/ Biology Institute <\/span>Bacteria cultivationLu\u00eds Leite \/ Biology Institute <\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

Scaling up
\n<\/strong>One of the biggest obstacles in creating the new biopesticide was developing a way to produce the nematodes on a large scale, at a cost that would make its price competitive with chemical insecticides. To overcome this obstacle, Leite spent a year, between 2014 and 2015, at the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). \u201cI worked on developing culture media and processes for the in vitro<\/em> production of entomopathogenic nematodes, which have a symbiotic relationship with bacteria; I was trying to make the production viable at a low price and had in mind major crops such as sugarcane,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Using a culture medium consisting of egg yolk, vegetable oil and yeast extract, Leite says that the nematode production cost is less than R$10 per hectare. Labor and logistics, for example, must be added to that amount, but even so the product is still price competitive with agrochemicals. \u201cMany Brazilian farmers think that biological control should be cheaper than chemicals,\u201d he says. \u201cThat thinking is not prevalent in Europe, where farmers place more value on biological control, because of the restrictions placed on the use of chemicals due to their harmful effects.\u201d<\/p>\n

Leite cites other advantages of using nematodes instead of agrochemicals. These include the fact that the insects are not resistant to them, and their use is safe for the environment, for farm workers and consumers, since the nematodes are not harmful to human health. \u201cThe worms are extremely tenacious in the insect environment. When 100 of them invade an insect, they feed and multiply within its body for up to three generations, reaching up to 100,000 individuals. After exhausting this food source, they go out and look for another pest to invade and repeat the process,\u201d says Leite.<\/p>\n

\u201cNematodes are widely used around the world, but still very little in Brazil,\u201d says Jos\u00e9 Roberto Parra, a specialist in biological control at the Luiz de Queiroz College of Agriculture of the University of S\u00e3o Paulo (ESALQ-USP). \u201cThey are difficult to produce in bulk, because we have not completely mastered the production technology. Once this problem is solved, nematodes will have the same advantages of any microorganism used in biological pest control,\u201d says Parra. \u201cThe technology has been determined and is open to any interested company, but large-scale production has yet to evolve. For example, the life span of commercial nematodes is two to three months, and their use depends on the presence of rain, which complicates the logistics of distribution in periods of drought,\u201d says Leite. Bio Controle primarily focuses on sugarcane.\u00a0 \u201cWe are the only company that has and is registering a product in Brazil based on entomopathogenic nematodes,\u201d notes F\u00e1bio Silber Schmidt, a researcher with the company. \u201cThe product is Bio Bacteriophora, which is \u200b\u200bbased on the nematode Heterorhabditis bacteriophora<\/em>; one of its targets will be the sugarcane weevil.\u201d The company anticipates that the product\u2019s final registration will occur between 2017 and 2018, at which time it can be marketed.<\/p>\n

Projects
\n1.<\/strong> Evaluation of methodologies and techniques for the industrial production of entomopathogenic nematodes and study of market for commercialization of these agents (n\u00ba 2003\/02137-1<\/a>); Grant Mechanism\u00a0<\/strong>Innovative Research in Small Businesses Program (PIPE); Principal Investigator<\/strong>\u00a0Carmen Maria Ambros Ginarte (Bio Controle); Investment<\/strong>\u00a0R$337,818.00.
\n2.<\/strong> Entomopathogenic nematodes: mass production and potential use in biological pest control (n\u00ba 2002\/09506-0<\/a>); Grant Mechanism <\/strong>Regular Research Grant; Principal Investigator<\/strong>\u00a0Lu\u00eds Garrig\u00f3s Leite (Biology Institute-Campinas unit); Investment<\/strong>\u00a0R$17,400.00.
\n3.<\/strong> In vitro mass production of entomopathogenic nematodes: selection of media, biphasic production, formulation and use of the industrial waste (n\u00ba 2014\/00651-4<\/a>); Grant Mechanism<\/strong>\u00a0Scholarships abroad \u2013 Regular; Principal Investigator<\/strong>\u00a0Lu\u00eds Garrig\u00f3s Leite (Biology Institute-Campinas unit); Investment<\/strong>\u00a0R$119,425.19.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Worms and bacteria acting together are raw material for bioinsecticide ","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1560,169],"tags":[211,259],"coauthors":[112],"class_list":["post-225786","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-innovative-research-in-small-business-pipe-en","category-technology","tag-biochemistry","tag-chemistry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225786","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=225786"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225786\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=225786"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=225786"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=225786"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=225786"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}