A biopesticidal lease of life for crop protection : additive manufacturing for tailored timing of biopesticide release by natural triggers

作物保护的生物农药重获新生：增材制造可根据自然触发因素定制生物农药释放时间

• 批准号: BB/X005399/1
• 负责人: Ricky Wildman
• 金额: $ 16.48万
• 依托单位: University of Nottingham
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2022 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=BB%2FX005399%2F1
• 关键词: biopesticidal; lease; life; crop; protection

The need to meet the increasing demand for food while growing crops more sustainably is a major global challenge. For more sustainable crop production, there is an urgent need to reduce reliance on synthetic chemical pesticides on farms, as these have led to impoverished soils, widespread pest and disease resistance, water contamination and a significant loss of biodiversity. In the UK, there are presently around 2,400 authorised plant protection products (PPPs) based on synthetic chemistry, but far fewer sustainable options such as biopesticides, e.g., naturally occurring microorganisms that inhibit spread of crop pests. Of the latter, only a small handful are permitted on arable crops. This absence of effective, alternative options means growers are presently unable to meet demands from consumers, environmental bodies and policy makers, for a more sustainable approach to farming. This is exacerbated by poor efficacy of existing biopesticides. One fundamental reason for their poor efficacy is that biospesticides generally do not maintain the necessary concentrations in the environment for suitable amounts of time. Therefore, they may no longer be active when they are most needed, as pests proliferate; and it is not feasible for farmers to try to time their deployment through ongoing crop monitoring. This project will establish an interdisciplinary community to redress this problem. The timeliness for the project is clear: if we are to change our farming habits to help create healthier soils, cleaner water and safer, more sustainable farming we need action to give growers the correct tools to make it happen. To provide such tools, we will introduce additive-manufacturing capability to engineer the encapsulation and delivery of biopesticidal fungal spores via concepts similar to those used for 3D printed 'polypills' in biomedicine. That is, the pest controlling organisms will be incorporated into polymeric 'capsules' and their release controlled and driven by the very same environmental triggers as those that signal the growth of the pests - the controlling organisms would emerge at the same time as the pests, giving rise to a timely biological competition during which the biopesticide can act optimally and plant growth can thrive. For proof-of-concept in this project, we will focus on fungal release from manufactured capsules using moisture and pH triggers (each of which is a common indicator coincident with pest proliferation), tested using selected fungi representative of a range having biopesticidal potential against important pests such as cyst nematodes (which are responsible for significant losses of arable crops in the UK and globally). Our technical work will deliver optimisation of fungal-spore encapsulation and environmentally-triggered release in conjunction with biological assay of fungal viability and outgrowth pre- and post-release. This work will be complemented by close engagement with key industry partners and stakeholders to guide development towards application of the proposed technology. The investigators comprise a new, inter-disciplinary collaboration of scientists based at academic and non-academic organizations, with expertise encompassing fungal biology, additive manufacturing and biopesticides. Positive progress in this project will crystallize the focus of a community of key players and beneficiaries around development of the biopesticidal capsules and the common mission to slow or reverse the deterioration of our crop production by pests.

在更可持续地种植农作物的同时满足日益增长的粮食需求是一项重大的全球挑战。为了更可持续的作物生产，迫切需要减少农场对合成化学杀虫剂的依赖，因为这导致土壤贫瘠、广泛的病虫害抗性、水污染和生物多样性的严重丧失。在英国，目前约有2400种基于合成化学的授权植物保护产品(PPP)，但可持续的选择要少得多，例如生物杀虫剂，例如抑制作物病虫害蔓延的自然微生物。在后者中，只有一小部分被允许种植可耕地。缺乏有效的替代选择意味着种植者目前无法满足消费者、环境机构和政策制定者对更可持续的耕作方法的需求。现有生物杀虫剂的效果不佳加剧了这一问题。生物农药药效差的一个根本原因是，生物农药通常不会在适当的时间内在环境中保持必要的浓度。因此，在最需要它们的时候，它们可能不再活跃，因为害虫激增；农民试图通过持续的作物监测来确定部署的时间是不可行的。该项目将建立一个跨学科社区来解决这一问题。该项目的及时性很明显：如果我们要改变耕作习惯，帮助创造更健康的土壤、更清洁的水和更安全、更可持续的农业，我们需要采取行动，为种植者提供实现这一目标的正确工具。为了提供这样的工具，我们将引入添加剂制造能力，通过类似于生物医学中用于3D打印的聚合药丸的概念来设计生物杀虫真菌孢子的封装和传递。也就是说，控制害虫的生物体将被并入聚合物“胶囊”中，它们的释放受到与害虫生长信号相同的环境触发因素的控制和驱动--控制生物体将与害虫同时出现，从而引发及时的生物竞争，在此期间，生物农药可以发挥最佳作用，植物生长可以茁壮成长。为了在这个项目中进行概念验证，我们将重点关注使用水分和pH触发器(每一个都是与害虫繁殖一致的常见指标)从制造的胶囊中释放真菌，并使用代表一系列具有生物杀虫潜力的真菌对重要害虫进行测试，例如孢囊线虫(这是英国和全球耕地作物重大损失的原因)。我们的技术工作将提供真菌孢子包裹和环境触发释放的优化，以及释放前和释放后真菌活性和生长的生物测试。这项工作将通过与主要行业伙伴和利益攸关方的密切接触来补充，以指导拟议技术的应用开发。研究人员由学术和非学术组织的科学家组成一个新的跨学科合作，其专业知识涵盖真菌生物学、添加剂制造和生物农药。该项目的积极进展将明确主要参与者和受益者社区围绕生物杀虫胶囊的开发和减缓或扭转害虫造成的作物生产恶化的共同使命的重点。