16AGRITECHCAT5: A Novel Biopesticide Formulation Technology for Major Lepidopteran Crop Pests

日益加剧的环境关切和由此产生的立法目前正严重限制欧洲和全球化学农药的使用，因此迫切需要为农业生产者提供安全、有效、但在环境上可接受的新替代品。保护农作物免受虫害侵害的一种有前景的替代方法是使用生防剂或生物杀虫剂，包括基于昆虫自然传染病的产品。它们是环保的，因为它们只影响目标害虫，对人类、牲畜和传粉者等有益昆虫都是安全的。然而，现有的生物农药配方存在一些重大缺陷。具体地说，生物杀虫剂的货架期比传统杀虫剂更短，最重要的是，曾经应用于农作物的持久性更短。作物持续期较短的主要原因是生物农药的紫外线稳定性较短。这些限制严重限制了其他高致病性昆虫病剂的当前用途，这意味着它们不像大多数化学杀虫剂那样常用。该项目旨在开发一种创新的方法，以提高病毒生物杀虫剂的货架期、田间持久性、药效和成本效益，以防治危害作物的蛾毛虫。它将建立在久经考验的Entostat技术的基础上，以在储存或在作物上更好地保护生物杀虫剂，同时提高其杀死害虫的能力。概念验证工作已经表明，Entostat胶囊不会干扰病毒的传染性，因此与这些生物杀虫剂兼容。此外，该项目将确定与Entostat蜡共同配制特定的紫外线阻滞剂，使其结合在活性颗粒周围，是否会提高生物杀虫剂的紫外线稳定性，大大延长田间持续期，并增加两次使用的间隔。这项技术虽然是为昆虫病毒生物农药开发的，但也可以应用于其他类别的生物农药，如细菌产品，这是目前使用最广泛的生物农药类别。这些创新可以降低使用生物杀虫剂防治虫害的成本，并大幅提高产品对用户的吸引力，从而彻底改变作物保护格局。

Increasing environmental concerns and the legislation that arises from these is currently seriously restricting the use of chemical pesticides in Europe and globally, thus creating an urgent need for safe new, effective, but environmentally-acceptable, alternatives for agricultural producers. One promising alternative approach for protecting crops against insect pests is the use of biological control agents or biopesticides, including products based on the natural infectious diseases of insects. These are environmentally-friendly because they are affect only target pests and are safe to humans, livestock and beneficial insects such as pollinators. However, existing formulations of biopesticides have a number of significant shortcomings. Specifically the shorter shelf life of biopesticides than conventional pesticides and most importantly shorter persistence once applied to crops. The shorter crop persistence is mainly a result of the shorter UV stability of biopesticides. These constraints severely limit current usefulness of otherwise highly pathogenic insect disease agents which mean that they are not as commonly used as most chemical pesticides.This project aims to develop an innovative approach to improve the shelf-life, field-persistence, efficacy and cost-effectiveness of viral biopesticides against the moth caterpillars that damage crops. It will build on tried-and-tested Entostat technology to better protect the biopesticide whilst in storage or on the crop, whilst improving its capacity to kill pest insects. Proof of concept work has already shown that Entostat encapsulation does not interfere with virus infectivity and are thus compatible with these biopesticides. In addition, the project will determine if co-formulating specific UV-blockers with the Entostat waxes, so that they are bound around active particles, will improve the biopesticides UV stability, substantially extending persistence in the field and increasing intervals between applications. This technology although being developed for insect virus biopesticides, could have applications for other groups of biopesticides such as bacterial products which are currently the most widely used group of biopesticides. These innovations could lower the costs of pest control using biopesticides and substantially increase product attractiveness to users revolutionising the crop protection landscape.