Bioinsecticide For Combating A Pest That Affects The Tomato And The Green Bean

The research project iscalled “Characterisation of isolated multiple Helicoverpa armigeranucleopolyhedrovirus for its development as an active material inbioinsecticides”.

A worldwide pest

The Helicoverpaarmigera insect, the scientific name for the tomato fruitworm, is foundwidely distributed throughout Europe, the Middle East, Africa andOceania, where it is considered to be a very serious pest. In Spain ithas been traditionally one of the most important pests in cotton andmaize but, since more than a decade ago, it has become a feared pestfor several vegetable crops. These insects have a predilection forfruit, penetrating into their interior, on which they feed andfrequently emigrating from one fruit to another and capable ofdestroying several during its larval stage.

Control of this pestwith synthetic organic insecticides, apart from the toxicity andenvironmental problems arising from their use, is turning out to be oflittle efficacy due to the great capacity the organism has fordeveloping resistances to a great variety of active materials.

Thusthe need to put into place alternative control measures, outstandingamongst which is the biological control with baculovirus, a virusexclusive to insect pathogens, and which show a great number ofproperties favourable to being developed as bioinsecticides.

Contrasted experience

Therecurrently exist some 40 products available in different countries fordifferent species of lepidoptera pests, the active material beingbaculovirus. Amongst these are some that are specially developed forthe control of H. armigera in cotton, but there are still no productsspecific for vegetable crops.

This is precisely the aim of thementioned research group from the Public University of Navarra: todesign a bioinsecticide that can be used as a control measure. Inconcrete, as a first stage – that corresponding to the research team -,the biochemical and biological characterisation of the most specificstrains of H. armigera found in the extensive collection of baculovirusavailable to the team will be undertaken. Then, those strains showingthe best biological characteristics for their future development asbioinsecticides will be selected.

This first stage is to last twoyears – to the end of next year, 2006, approximately -, and thecompleted development of the bioinsecticide could take another twoyears.

It should be pointed out that the Crop Protection researchteam from the Public University of Navarra have undertaken, over its 11years of research, important work on the development of baculovirus asbioinsecticides.The team is currently working together with a companyto design a highly effective product against the larvae of Spodopteraexigua, another lepidoptero important in market gardening.