UK-China Agritech Challenge: Environmentally Benign Combination Biopesticides - Transforming Pest Control in Chinese and UK Agriculture

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Environmentally benign fungal pathogens and naturally insecticidal plant extracts could offer a sustainable alternative to synthetic chemical pesticides. Fungal control does not have many of the problems associated with conventional control such as pest resistance, toxicity to humans and persistence in the environment. One downside to such a technology is that it can be slow acting to achieve effective control. The aim of this project is to create a formulation combining fungal pathogens with the pesticidal plant extracts to create effective pest control with two non-synthetic control agents. This solution will be applicable in developing countries such as China where the materials can be locally produced. Creating a new product with these technologies may confer additional benefits as the modes of action may work in synergy to achieve greater pest control with less material required. Additional benefits to using these biopesticides would be the stimulation the growth of this market, provision of safer working conditions, creating job opportunities and allowing local growers to receive a greater return for their produce by conforming to EU regulations on pesticide use. We anticipate that this will have considerable benefits for the ecosystems in which they are applied due to reduced impacts on non-target insects such as pollinators.From a scientific and cultural perspective this would open-up opportunities for other pathogen-botanical extract formulations to be developed and increase awareness of alternative solutions in pest control, encouraging growers and industry to move away from synthetic chemical control.The project will involve laboratory testing of the plant extracts and fungal pathogens for potentially synergistic, antagonistic or additive effects when controlling pest populations, formulated blends of plant extracts with the fungal pathogen in a concentration identified as effective in laboratory assays and field testing on crops in China. In field and laboratory testing the incidence of target pests, damage caused and the impact on beneficial insects (i.e. pollinators and natural enemies of the pests) will be monitored.A report will be prepared with a plan for future research required and a plan for the exploitation of this new technology. The project will be a collaboration between the Natural Resources Institute and Eurorganic Ltd in the UK and Fujian Agriculture & Forestry University and Jiangxi Tian-Ren Ltd in China.