Crop protection against aphids with plant defence activators

我们的项目旨在促进植物防御活化剂的实际开发，如顺式茉莉素，作为一种新的作物保护处理方法，用于对抗蚜虫。早期的研究表明，顺式茉莉素处理可以显著减少田间蚜虫的侵害，并且处理过的植物对蚜虫有驱避作用，同时对害虫的天敌也更有吸引力。植物防御激活剂的优点是具有无毒的作用方式。它们的工作原理是开启（诱导）植物的防御，并可能提供新的、环保的作物保护选择。农民迫切需要新的选择，因为传统农药的使用日益受到立法变化的限制，并因耐药性的演变而受到损害。植物防御激活剂是：*环境友好*与害虫的天敌一起工作*提供农民可以用来对付害虫的新干预措施*形成综合虫害管理（IPM）的一部分*可以用来对付耐杀虫剂的害虫。在这里，我们将朝着植物防御激活剂处理商业化的下一步迈出一步。我们已经与英国领先的农艺公司Agrii讨论了所需的研究。小麦是他们首选的初始试验作物，因为它的种植面积很大，也因为我们早期的田间试验已经表明，顺式茉莉素可以减少小麦中的蚜虫数量。Agrii还有其他潜在的植物防御激活剂（AGRII101, AGRII202），他们希望与顺式茉莉酮一起进行测试，以比较其性能。因此，我们的项目将进行实地试验，比较不同的植物防御激活剂处理，以及未经处理的对照地块和使用标准拟除虫菊酯类杀虫剂处理的地块。我们将用不同的小麦品种来测试植物激活剂的性能，因为不同的小麦品种具有不同的诱导防御能力。在实际条件下测试了功效后，我们将与监管机构探讨如何获得植物激活剂的监管批准。上面列出的好处意味着我们有充分的理由获得监管部门的批准，我们将把与监管机构的对话作为项目目标之一。

Our project is designed to facilitate the practical development of plant defence activators, such as cis-jasmone, as novel crop protection treatments for use against aphids. Earlier research has shown that cis-jasmone treatment can significantly reduce aphid infestations in the field and that treated plants become repellent to aphids while also becoming more attractive to natural enemies of pests. Plant defence activators have the advantage of having a non-toxic mode of action. They work by switching on (inducing) defence in plants and could provide new, environmentally friendly crop protection options. Farmers urgently need new options as conventional pesticide use is increasingly restricted by changes in legislation and compromised by evolution of resistance.Plant defence activators are:* environmentally friendly* work with not against natural enemies of pests* provide new interventions farmers can use against pests* form part of integrated pest management (IPM)* can be used against insecticide resistant pestsHere, we will make the next steps towards commercialisation of plant defence activator treatments. We have discussed with Agrii, a leading UK agronomy company, the research that would be needed. Wheat is their preferred crop for initial trials due to the large area it is grown in and also because our earlier field trials have already shown cis-jasmone can reduce aphid populations in wheat. Agrii have other potential plant defence activators (AGRII101, AGRII202) they would like to test alongside cis-jasmone in order to compare performance. Our project will therefore conduct field trials comparing different plant defence activator treatments with each other as well as with untreated control plots and plots treated with a standard pyrethroid insecticide. We will test the performance of plant activators with different wheat varieties because different varieties can have different capacity for inducing defence. Having tested efficacy under realistic conditions we will then explore with regulatory authorities how to obtain regulatory approval for for plant activators. The benefits listed above mean a strong case can be made for regulatory approval and we will include dialogue with regulators as a project objective.