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

无害环境的真菌病原体和天然杀虫植物提取物可以为合成化学农药提供可持续的替代品。真菌防治不具有与常规防治相关的许多问题，例如害虫抗性、对人类的毒性和在环境中的持久性。这种技术的一个缺点是，它可以缓慢地实现有效的控制。该项目的目的是创造一种将真菌病原体与杀虫植物提取物相结合的制剂，以利用两种非合成防治剂来有效防治害虫。这一解决方案将适用于中国等发展中国家，因为这些材料可以在当地生产。用这些技术创造新产品可能会带来额外的好处，因为这些作用模式可以协同工作，以更少的材料实现更大的虫害控制。使用这些生物农药的其他好处是刺激这一市场的增长，提供更安全的工作条件，创造就业机会，并允许当地种植者通过遵守欧盟关于农药使用的法规获得更大的产品回报。我们预计，由于减少了对传粉昆虫等非目标昆虫的影响，这将对应用它们的生态系统产生相当大的好处。从科学和文化的角度来看，这将为开发其他病原体植物提取物制剂提供机会，并提高人们对害虫控制替代解决方案的认识，鼓励种植者和工业界放弃合成化学品控制。该项目将涉及对植物提取物和真菌病原体进行实验室测试，以确定在控制害虫种群时可能产生的协同、拮抗或累加效应，植物提取物与真菌病原体的配制混合物，其浓度在中国的实验室测定和作物田间试验中被鉴定为有效。在田间和实验室测试中，将监测目标害虫的发生率、造成的损害以及对益虫（即害虫的传粉者和天敌）的影响。将编写一份报告，其中包括未来所需的研究计划和开发这项新技术的计划。该项目将由英国自然资源研究所和Eurorganic Ltd与中国福建农林大学和江西天仁有限公司合作。

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.