摘要:

COMPANY NEWS Mergers and acquisitions …Dow and Rohm & Haas The Dow Chemical Company and Rohm & Haas Company have reached agreement for Dow AgroSciences LLC to purchase Rohm & Haas’s Agricultural Chemicals business including working capital for approximately US $1 billion. Under terms of the agreement Dow AgroSciences will acquire Rohm & Haas’s Agricultural Chemicals business including its fungicides insecticides herbicides other pro d uct lines trademarks and license to all agricultural uses of its biotechnology assets. The transaction is expected to close in second quarter 2001 subject to regulatory appro v a l s. The sale will result in the transfer of ownership of parts of Rohm & Haas’ manufacturing sites in Jacarei Brazil; Barranquilla Colombia; Lauterbourg France and Mozzanica Italy; all of the Nantong China plant will transfer as well as assets owned by Rohm & Haas in Muscatine Iowa.The Philadelphia PA plant’s Agricultural Chemicals operations will become a toll manufacturing site for Dow AgroSciences (http://www.dow. com) …Dow and Union Carbide The Dow Chemical Co. (Dow) received clearance from the US Federal Trade Commission on 5 February 2001 for its merger with Union Carbide Corp. As part of the merger originally announced on 4 August 1999 Union Carbide will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Dow. Dow has also received necessary regulatory review for the merger from the European Commission the Canadian Competition Bureau and from other jurisdictions around the world.(http://www.dow.com) …Auxein and Mycotech Auxein and Mycotech jointly announced their merger into Emerald BioAgriculture Corp (Emerald Bio). Emerald Bio develops manufacturers and markets natural environmentally responsible crop protection and yield and quality enhancement pro d u c ts. The company is headquartered in L a n s i n g MI with manufacturing operations in Butte MI. Emerald Bio has eight products that are registered by the Environmental Protection Agency. They include AuxiGro and NuTRx two biochemical-based products that enhance crop yields and quality and Please send any contributions to the NEWS sections in Pesticide Outlook to Hamish Kidd The Royal Society of Chemistry Thomas Graham House Science Park Cambridge CB4 0WF.FAX +44 (0)1223 420247; email KIDDH@RSC.ORG. Syngenta opens new plant in China Syngenta has opened a US$85 million plant in Nantong in China. The new plant marks Chinaís largest joint venture partnership in agrochemicals. The new site will manufacture Gramoxone (paraquat) and the pyrethroid insecticide Kung Fu (lambda cyhalothrin).1 The joint venture company Zeneca Nantong Agrochemical Company (ZNAC) will own and operate the plant. Zeneca’s partners in the joint venture are Jiangshan Agrichemical and Chemical Company and Nantong Petrochemicals Corporation. The Nantong plant will supply the Chinese market where demand for Gramoxone continues to grow strongly and other Asia-Pacific countries.With a major commitment in China Syngenta currently employs more than 400 employees in 3 joint ventures 2 wholly-owned foreign enterprises and 3 representative offices. It is expected that the new Nantong plant will create about 100 new jobs 1Readers might find it interesting to note that while the Editor was trying to identify the active ingredient in Kung Fu by use of the Internet he found the following entry on the Science and the Martial Arts website Effect of prolonged administration of the insecticide Karate on the blood and liver of rabbits [A. R. Shakoori Folia Biol. (Krakow) 1992]. 42 Pest ic ide Outlook – Apr i l 2001 This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry 2001 fight crop diseases; Mycotrol BotaniGard Nemasys and Nemasys H which employ naturally occurring fungi or nematodes to control insects; and Valero and Cinnamite which use a naturally occurring biochemical to control mites and fungi.…Encore Technologies and Semco Laboratories Encore Technologies (Encore) has formed a strategic alliance with Semco Laboratories (Semco) of Milwaukee WI to expand Encore’s manufacturing and technological capabilities for biocontrol agents in the agricultural market. The alliance with Semco will enable Encore to expand its biological product line and increase the range of its production opportunities. In addition Semco’s production capabilities and downstream processing allows Encore greater flexibility in the cultures grown and the product form it delivers to customers.Aventis CropScience …Schering could buy Aventis’ 76% of Aventis CropScience or not? The Wall Street Journal reports that Schering has begun to consider buying the 76% of Aventis CropScience that is owned by Aventis. Schering currently owns 24% of Aventis CropScience and in November 2000 confirmed that it would not take part in floating the group on the stock exchange since agrochemicals companies are undervalued currently. Aventis announced in November 2000 that it aims to have sold its agrochemicals and crop protection chemicals by the end of 2001. Flotation and direct sale are under consideration. There are suggestions that a take-over or alliance is a preferred option and a decision needs to be made by Spring 2001.An American buyer would be preferable. The approval of Schering with its 24% share in Aventis would be required for the final proposal. It is considered unlikely that either Aventis or Schering would want to split up the business. BASF is reported to b e interested in acquiring those parts of Aventis CropScience that would not infringe on European monopolies and mergers regulations. …Makhteshim-Agan purchases Israeli company Makhteshim-Agan has bought guazatine (fungicide) and clofentezine (acaricide) from Aventis. In 2000 the two products had total sales of about EUR 23 M. In 1999 Makhteshim-Agan became the eighth largest agrochemical company in the world and the world’s largest producer of generic agrochemicals.…more divestments Aventis CropScience has also reached agreements for the divestiture of the following l Bifenox a herbicide on the market for about 20 years for use in cereals markets mainly in Europe with brand names Bifenix Foxpro Foxtril and Modown has been sold to the German company Feinchemie Schwebda Eschwege. Bifenox businesses in Japan Korea and Taiwan are excluded from the deal. • Chlormephos an insecticide with brand name Dotan was sold to Calliope Noguères near Pau France. • Dodine a fungicide for use in fruit trees known as Syllit with significant volumes DOI 10.1039/b102652f in the USA was sold to Chimac Agriphar Liège Belgium. Syllit is registered in USA Europe and other important appleproducing countries.Products …Dow AgroSciences licenses cloransulam-methyl to Monsanto Dow AgroSciences has agreed to sell formulated cloransulam-methyl herbicide to Monsanto for resale under an agreement. Cloransulam-methyl is the active ingredient in Dow AgroSciences’ FirstRate herbicide a popular product for control of tough broadleaf weeds in soybeans. Upon approval of necessary registrations Monsanto will also sell a cloransulam-methyl herbicide product under the brand name Amplify beginning with the 2001 sales season. Registration for application of Amplify is pending state approval. For more information see http:// www.monsanto.com …Bayer expands herbicides range Bayer in Leverkusen acquired the licence rights for production formulation and marketing of the herbicide metosulam from Dow AgroSciences in Munich.The transaction will give Bayer unlimited access to all data registration and trade names of the active substance which is registered in more than 20 countries. Bayer expanded its position in the herbicides market. Dow AgroSciences discontinued distribution of metosulam products on 1 January 2001 excluding France. Metosulam-containing herbicides are active against broadleaf weeds and are primarily applied in maize and wheat. The product is also registered for rice lupins and sugar cane. Until now metosulam has only been marketed in Germany as a maize herbicide under the trade name Tacco. …Syngenta divestments Makhteshim Agan of Beer Sheva Israel has acquired the Scandinavian cereal fungicides business of Syngenta for SFR 8.5 M.The acquisition includes the Tern (fenpropidin) Stereo (cyprodinil + propiconazole) Tilt (propiconazole) Tilt Top (fenpropimorph + propiconazole) and Corbel (fenpropimorph). Makhteshim-Agan recently bought taufluvalinate (insecticide) propaquizafop (herbicide) and bupirimate (fungicide) from Syngenta for SFR 135 M. The three products had total annual sales of about SFR 80 M. Bayer (Leverkusen) completed the acquisition of the Flint (trifloxystrobin) fungicide product line from Syngenta. Bayer will immediately start exclusive distribution of the product line. Major markets for Flint products are in Germany the UK France and the US.The acquisition of the Flint business for SFR 1.33 bn included all global patents registrations and trademarks knowhow for production and formulation as well as the production facility in Muttenz (Switzerland). In addition to this Bayer acquired the marketing rights for some products such as cyproconazole (Alto) in the EU and Bayer also acquired sulcotrione (Mikado) for $106 M in the European Economic Region. Syngenta has announced that it has signed agreements on the sale of its global flutriafol fungicide business. Cheminova A/S will pay an initial US$15 million for the product marketed in Europe Latin America and Australasia under the brand names Impact and Vincit. Cheminova will also buy stocks of the business at cost. These and the other divestments (more to be announced later this year) are being made to satisfy conditions imposed by the European Commission in connection with the recent merger of Novartis Agribusiness and Zeneca Agrochemicals to form Syngenta.…effect of US patent expiry on glyphosate products The price of Monsanto’s Roundup is under threat in 2001 following the expiry of the patent covering glyphosate. Monsanto (now part of Pharmacia) has been preparing for the loss of protection by cutting prices over a number of years and raising capacity. A new glyphosate plant is being built by Monsanto in Camacari Brazil at a cost of $235 M. This will increase Monsanto’s overall capacity by 35%. Monsanto has also signed agreement with competitors including Cheminova Dow Chemical Microflo/BASF Nufarm and Syngenta.Pesti c ide Outlook – Apr i l 2001 COMPANY NEWS …new glyphosate herbicide formulation from Zeneca Zeneca Ag Products is expecting to launch a new more user-friendly formulation of its Touchdown glyphosate herbicide in 2001. The current formulation is Touchdown 5. The new formulation incorporates a balanced adjuvant delivery system that is intended to improve the delivery and retention of spray with an efficient nonabrasive penetration of the plant to provide rapid consistent and effective control of weeds. It has a clean smelling fragrance and is used at the same level of application as the other glyphosate formulations. When it is registered it will be made available as Touchdown 5 stocks are used up.It will be registered for use on many crops including Roundup Ready maize cotton and soybeans as well as for use in burndown. Snippets …Eden Bioscience Corp Bothell Washington is setting up operations in Europe. In 2000 Eden received US approval for its plant defence stimulator Messenger (harpin) (http://www.edenbio.com) …Globalfarmers goes live The much vaunted internet company www.globalfarmers.com opened for agricultural trading on 22 January 2001. Some 80 agricultural suppliers are reportedly taking part but their identities have not been made public. They are described as bona fide UK-registered companies. Firms falling below trading standards will be publicly exposed. Security measures are said to have been rigorously and independently tested. (http://www.globalfarmers.com) …the Portuguese generic pesticide producer Herbex SA Sintra has patented a new glyphosate-related molecule which is claimed to be 8 times as active as glyphosate; it is currently being evaluated in France (Phytoma March 2001). …BASF has received UK approval for its graminicide tepraloxydim (Aramo) for use on broadleaf crops including sugar beet winter oilseed rape and linseed. This is the first registration for the herbicide in the EU. 4 3

ISSN:0956-1250    

DOI:10.1039/b102652f

出版商:RSC    

年代:2001

数据来源: RSC

摘要:

REGULATORY NEWS UK pesticide tax dropped The UK Chancellor of the Exchequer has decided to drop the Government’s proposed pesticide tax in favour of the voluntary package of measures to the delight of the Crop Protection Association (CPA) the UK pesticide industry association who strongly believed that a tax would not deliver the Government’s objective of minimising the environmental impact of pesticide products. For details of the CPA measures produced in association with the National Farmers Union the National Farmers Union for Scotland the Country Landowners Association the National Association of Agricultural Contractors the Agricultural Engineers Association and the UK Agricultural Supply Trade Association see Pesticide Outlook 12(1) 4.Now the CPA has to put the measures in its package of measures into effect and demonstrate that they work. Atrazine not a likely human carcinogen An EPA science panel has concluded that the herbicide atrazine should not be classified as a likely human carcinogen. For over a decade the EPA called atrazine a possible carcinogen. Now a new report from the EPA’s Scientific Advisory Panel says that atrazine is either unlikely to be a human carcinogen or insufficient information is available to classify it. But the panel did conclude that animal studies indicate atrazine could have developmental effects in children. Exposure could delay the onset of puberty and could cause enlarged prostate in young males. The effect of atrazine on neurotransmitters in the brains of children could also permanently change behaviour.44 EU legislation will reduce pesticide choice The current EU review process is set to reduce the number of pesticide active ingredients available to the grower over the last 10 years from 850 to some 300 when the current process ends. And the range of uses for each compound could be restricted to large-scale crops; the process is insufficiently flexible to permit minor crop uses. Manufacturers favour the dropping of older generic products. The lack of support for pesticide use in small crops is likely to raise the cost of crop production. The horticultural industry has been granted an extension to the use of crucial products beyond the 2003 deadline possibly until 2006 to allow the development of alternative control methods or the generation of Pest ic ide Outlook – Apr i l 2001 This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry 2001 data to support particular products.Representation on such products must be made to the EU Agricultural Commission in time for it to petition the EU Parliament in July 2001. The UK horticultural industry is to make its representation in conjunction with the industries in other EU countries. UK growers fear competition from food producers outside the EU who do not face the same restrictions and increased growing costs. Pesticides in infant formulae and baby foods EC Directives 99/50/EC and 99/39/EC set a maximum limit of 0.01 mg/kg for the level of individual pesticides that may be present in infant formulae and baby foods.These requirements were implemented into UK law in 2000 and come into force in July 2002. These Directives also committed the European Commission to drawing up a further legislation to prohibit the use of certain more toxic pesticides in agricultural products intended for use in the manufacture of infant formulae and baby foods. These proposals were published by the Commission in July 2000 and were the subject of public consultations in August and September 2000. The results of these consultations have now been published and show strong support for the proposals from health professionals and consumer organisations. They felt that the health of infants and young children should be afforded the highest priority and highlighted the concerns parents feel about infants and young children being exposed to pesticides.One consumer group felt the proposals did not go far enough and proposed that only organically produced raw materials should be used in the production of infant and baby foods; another group felt that the scope of the proposals should be extended to cover all breast milk substitutes including medical foods for infants and young children. Organisations responsible for enforcement bodies highlighted the resource implications of the proposals in terms of additional sampling and analysis costs particularly if the scope of the Directives extended to pesticides used as seed coatings and on animal feedstuffs.The legality of the Commission’s proposals was challenged by a representative for pesticide manufacturers’ which has requested that the proposals are withdrawn. It has been argued that specific proposals to limit pesticides in infant and baby foods should be made in accordance with the system for authorisation of pesticides provided for by Directive 91/414 which requires the setting of maximum residue levels to be set on a case-by-case basis. Pesticides to be assessed according to pollution of waterways The EU Commission put 11 different pesticides on a recently published list of 32 hazardous chemicals which have long-term effects on living organisms in rivers lakes and oceans.Within the European water framework guidelines these substances will be monitored and some will be banned. The list includes hazardous substances including pesticides heavy metals flame re t a rd ants and wood preservatives. The most dangerous substances will no longer be perm i t ted to pollute waterways after a 2-year transitional period. The Commission will examine 4 pesticides by 2003 and will consider a long-term ban. These active ingredients are trifluralin; atrazine; chlorpyrifos; and endosulfan. Other substances on the list considered less hazardous by the EU Commission include alachlor chlorfenvinphos diuron isoproturon and simazine. These substances will only be examined for their effects on surface waters.The proposal by the EU Commission still has to be passed by the European Parliament and the EU Council of Ministers. The EU Commission does not intend to revoke registration for individual pesticides on the list but expects that the scrutiny will influence national and European approval of pesticides. Organophosphates (OPs) …OPs in drinking water Bayer Cheminova Dow Agrosciences Syngenta and Valent have presented the findings of their one year study on the level of OPs and their breakdown oxons in drinking water to the FIFRA Scientific Advisory Panel. Forty four community water systems 27 described as under agricultural influence and 17 under urban influence were investigated and 1103 samples analysed. Chlorpyrifos diazinon and malathion were never detected; methamidophos azinphos-methyl and acephate appeared in one of the samples.The oxons from azinphos-methyl and malathion appeared in one sample and the oxon from diazinon in two. DOI 10.1039/ b102653b …US reassessment of OPs An out-of-court settlement has been reached by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) of Washington USA that should speed up pesticide health risk assessments mandated by the 1996 Food Quality Protection Act (FQPA). Lawsuits had been filed by the NRDC against the EPA during 1999 charging it with missing deadlines under the FQPA. Under the agreement 39 organophosphate pesticides will be reassessed by the EPA before August 2002 and a timetable for the determination of cumulative pesticide risks when used together has been set.A chemical testing programme for possible endocrine disrupters is also to be launched and implemented. Sainsbury’s admonished A complaint by a member of the public against a Sainsbury’s advertisement which implied its British fruit and vegetables were free of pesticides has been upheld by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA). The advert claimed that Sainsbury’s preferred the use of natural pest controls such as ladybirds to chemical sprays. Yet pesticide data published by the UK Government revealed that over half of the fruit and vegetables sold by Sainsbury’s (UK and imported) contained pesticide residues and UK grown 42%. In upholding the complaint the ASA ruled that the advert could be misleading to Sainsbury’s customers as it implied that Sainsbury used natural farming methods on all their British fruit and vegetables.Pesticide MRLs in UK foods The UK food industry is being advised to take early action to ensure compliance with new Maximum Residue Limits (MRLs) for pesticides set by EC Directive 42/200/EC. The new Directive will come into effect on 1st July 2001 and will apply to a number of pesticide crop combinations with implementation resulting in these pesticides no longer having approval for use on the specified crops after this date. It will be legal to use up these products until 30th June 2001 but if a residue is found when tested after this date this will be considered a violation.This is particularly significant for processed product manufacturers since their products are typically stored for many months and may therefore be found to contain residues of pesticides legal before 30th June but illegal afterwards. In total there are 1935 EU proposals that will change current UK MRLs many of which will be in force sometime this year. Imidacloprid …British Sugar and Bayer respond Bayer the manufacturer of Gaucho (imidacloprid) herbicide denies suggestions that its product is being used unnecessarily. Gaucho has become part of the agronomic process used by growers because it reduces the requirement for planning and removes a large element of the need to walk fields at a time of year when hours are precious.According to British Sugar it has no objection to growers making better use of projections to modify their needs for Gaucho treatment. …Gaucho still not available in France Bayer failed to gain approval for the insecticide Gaucho for application to sunflower crops in France. A temporary ban on distribution has been imposed 2 years ago. The French Agricultural Minister (Jean Glavany) will now await results from a study by independent experts about the health of bee colonies in France. This decision has been reached after scientists from a Commission for the Assessment of Pesticides failed to unambiguously rule out a connection between the application of Gaucho in sunflower crops and the decimation of bee colonies in some regions in France observed since 1996.According to honey producers Bayer’s product confuses their bees which are unable to find their hives but Bayer believes there are other causes of the declining bee population. Methyl bromide …phase-out poses problems in California A University of California-Davis researcher says the phase-out of the soil fumigant methyl bromide is expected to mean longterm losses for California strawberry farmers. The removal of methyl bromide is expected to have a significant effect on California’s agriculture and over 25,000 people who are employed in its strawberry industry. California accounts for over 83% of the US total strawberry crop. Its strawberry growers use 4.6 M lbs/y of methyl bromide.…Anticimex appeals against methyl bromide ban Anticimex is appealing against the decision by Kemikalieinspektionen Sweden not to extend its approval for the pesticide methyl Pest ic ide Outlook – Apr i l 2001 REGULATORY NEWS bromide. The company says that the phasing out of methyl bromide use in Sweden should be coordinated with that in other countries. It uses the chemical for treating transported timber goods. Snippets …Ecuadorian shrimpers win fungicide case In Florida Desarrollo Industrial Bioacuatico SA (aka Dibsa shrimp farming unit of Seaboard Group) and Continental Grains have won a $10 M suit against DuPont. The suit alleged that run off from the US of DuPont’s Benlate (benomyl) used by banana producers in Ecuador was damaging the shrimp farms.Other claims are pending. …Pesticide scam According to the World Health Organisation and the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation nearly 33% of pesticides sold in developing countries are mis-labelled sub-standard or even dangerous. Among the examples are pesticide products containing the wrong ingredients or hazardous contaminants. The two bodies are to formulate stricter regulations governing trade in pesticides to combat this problem which costs $900 M/y. …pesticide support information in UK on the web The Pesticide Safety Directorate is informing growers whether manufacturers are supporting their active ingredients in the run up to the EU deadline on its registration review of pesticides. The information is displayed on the website http://www. pesticides.gov.uk. Some 500 active ingredients are expected to be unsupported. They include fomesafen in the products Flex and Reflex T important herbicides for the legume grower. Original reports that cypermethrin was not to be supported are untrue. …rise in the use of Pamira collection system for pesticide containers in Germany Almost 50% or 1500 tonnes of waste packaging materials for pesticides were collected in Germany in 2000 via the Pamira packaging disposal system of the Industrial Agricultural Association (IVA) in Frankfurt. Waste collections increased by 13%. A large part of waste packaging is incinerated in cement works in 5 different regions. East German chemicals company Schwarze Pumpe is using the waste pesticide containers as raw material in methanol production. 4 5

ISSN:0956-1250    

DOI:10.1039/b102653b

出版商:RSC    

年代:2001

数据来源: RSC

摘要:

R&D NEWS Insecticide-impregnated bednets Pierre Guillet of the World Health Organization and his co-workers at the Institut Pierre Richet in the Ivory Coast (Guillet et al Medical & Veterinary Entomology 15(1) 105–112) describes the development of “two-in-one” mosquito nets impregnated with pyrethroids and carbamates. Not only are “two-in-one” nets more effective at controlling the malaria-carrying Anopheles mosquito but they are also better at controlling the nuisance mosquito Culex. The latter is important in encouraging wider uptake of insecticide-treated nets. The use of a combination of two insecticides should also help to reduce the spread of pyrethroid resistance among Anopheles mosquitoes which is becoming a problem in some areas of Africa Central America Turkey and the Middle East.The authors claim that nets can be more effective if treated on the upper part with a carbamate and with a pyrethroid on the lower part … This new approach is based on the observed behaviour of mosquitoes flying around a bednet and occasionally settling on it. From sleepers under the bednet heat and carbon dioxide emanate and move upwards thermally within the net which acts like a chimney. Consequently foraging females tend to begin exploring nets on the upper part proceeding downwards looking for any bloodmeal opportunity. …Janet Hemingway and colleagues at Cardiff University describe an important new test for measuring pyrethroid concentrations on mosquito nets (Medical & Veterinary Entomology 15(1) 58–63).Based on a simple iodine volumetric titration which can be read by eye the new assay is a major advance on other tests which are too complex or too expensive to be used in the field in malaria zones. A simple and costeffective means of monitoring the amount of pyrethroid is a key part of antimalaria strategies based on mosquito nets. …according to a recent report (British Medical Journal 2001 321 270–273) mosquito nets treated with insecticide and distributed as part of a large scale social marketing programme can substantially reduce the prevalence of malaria and anaemia in very young children in Tanzania. This strategy has high potential in the control of malaria in sub-Saharan Africa.The study of a random sample of 748 children aged under 2 years living in 18 villages in southwest Tanzania found that ownership of treated nets rose rapidly from 10% to 61%. The prevalence of severe anaemia 46 Pest ic ide Outlook – Apr i l 2001 This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry 2001 Phytophthora-resistant genes? The potato and other related varieties of t h e Solanum species contain scores or perhaps even hundreds of genes that can give the plant a degree of resistance to Phytophthora infestans according to a doctoral thesis by Vivianne Vleeshouwers who conducted her studies at Plant Research International and Wageningen University. According to the thesis research scientists and breeders should be made aware of the fact that Phytophthora infestans is not fungus but an oomycete.It is therefore more closely related to plants and algae than to fungi. The results could open up new perspectives for the development of potato varieties with sustained resistance. Until recently this kind of immunity was considered to be founded on a totally different mechanism than the non-sustained form of resistance. Species with this type of resistance carry resistance genes (called the R genes) which bring about a hypersensitive reaction in potato plants. The reaction causes plant cells to die wherever the pathogen enters the plant resulting in the pathogen itself dying off. The genes responsible for this are not active against all forms of the pathogen which makes the resistance non-sustainable.Vleeshouwers discovered that all plants are to a certain extent resistant to Phytophthora infestans. All plants that come into contact with the pathogen show a more rapid rate of cell death. The speed and effectiveness of the hypersensitive reaction however is different for each plant. The hypersensitive mechanism is therefore not only responsible for non-sustained resistance but plays an essential role in all forms of resistance including sustained resistance. Vleeshouwers makes the assumption that potatoes and related species are ‘overflowing’ with genes that could contribute to the development of varieties with a sustained resistance to Phytophthora. Plants showing a hypersensitive reaction must therefore certainly not be rejected in the course of the cultivating process.(http://www.plant.wageningen-ur.nl/ news/2001-01_en.htm) decreased from 49% to 26% in the two years studied and the mean haemoglobin level in the children rose from 80 g/l to 89 g/l. Treated nets had a protective efficacy of 63% against both malaria and anaemia. Treated mosquito nets might therefore be able to deliver feasible and effective malaria prevention on a large scale in areas where malaria is highly endemic. Biologicals …a bioherbicide Japan Tobacco has introduced Camperico as a selective bioherbicide for the control of annual bluegrass. The product contains strains of Xanthomonas campestris that are pathogenic to annual bluegrass (Poa annua).The bacterium produces a polysaccharide (xanthan) that interferes with the upward movement of water through xylem causing wilting. Camperico is the world’s first commercialised bacterial herbicide. …a biofungicide Botokiller WP is an isolate of the naturally occurring common spore forming bacterium Bacillus subtilis. The product has been jointly developed by Idemitsu Kosan Tomen and Nihon Nohyaku. Bacillus subtilis acts as an antagonist of Botrytis cinerea on eggplant tomato and strawberry or Sphaerotheca aphanis on strawberry ( f ru i t leaves and petals). Botokiller also has preventive activities to Botrytis and Sphaerotheca by foliar application. …using fungi to combat mites and beetles in grain stores The phasing out of methyl bromide and criticism of the use of organophosphate insecticides is stimulating research into new methods of controlling pests in grain stores.The Central Science Laboratory York has identified two myco-insecticides for use on the fabric of storage buildings. Laboratory results have given full control of beetles a n d promising control of mites. Unfortunately the compounds are highly specific which is expected to raise control costs. Application is expected to be by conventional spraying. CABI Bioscience a project collaborator already markets Green Muscle a mycoinsecticide for the control of Kenyan locusts. …biological for control of aphids whitefly thrips and mites An IPM-compatible biological control agent has recently been included in the UK’s Assured Produce protocols.This is expected to benefit cucumber tomato pepper aubergine and ornamental crops. Biological Crop Protection’s Eradicoat controls aphids whitefly thrips and mites by physical rather than pesticidal means. Because there is no harvest interval Eradicoat can be used to control pest hot spots during cropping. Reduction in European pesticide consumption? According to a professor in Wageningen University’s Plant Production systems DOI 10.1039/ b102654m group the quantity of pesticide active ingredients used in Europe could be reduced from 315 M tonne/y to 10–40 M tonne/y provided farmers were to convert to using the most advanced technology and the highest quality soil.In addition the area of land cultivated could be cut from 140 M hectares to 70 M hectares. It is claimed that most pesticide consumption is down to mismanagement with farmers spraying diseases and infestations which are the natural enemies of major plagues such as aphids and white fly. Ten-year biodiversity study A 10-year study comparing conventional organic and integrated farming systems at Aventis CropScience’s Boarded Barns Farm in Essex UK has provided a wealth of independent data on the effects of these three systems on farm biodiversity. The principal lesson from the study is that field margin management whether it be a grass margin hedgerow or ditch is of great importance in enhancing the wildlife value of the farm.So too is the provision of green corridors such as beetle banks. It is in these areas that most species can be found irrespective of the farming system used in the cropped area. The type of crop and the method of cultivation however do impact on many species l wood mice appear to favour ploughed land. More were recorded in the conventional and organic fields than in the integrated. Fear of predation seems to prevent then moving out into the ICM unploughed crops l the vast movement of soil associated with potato production devastates many species including ground beetles and other predatory arthropods. l carabids do better in beans than in wheat possibly because more light penetrates the foliage thus increasing the temperature at soil level where the beetles live.Interestingly when pirimicartb was used to control a high population of aphids in beans the numbers of beetles soared as the dying aphids fell to the ground providing a rich food source for the beetles. Carbon dioxide for wood preservation The Australian research institute CSIRO is studying the use of carbon dioxide as a vehicle for wood preservatives. It believes that carbon dioxide will allow hardwoods such as messmate eucalyptus to be treated as well as difficult softwoods such as cypress pine. When in supercritical phase the carbon dioxide acquires an ability to penetrate fine structures such as the micropores of wood. Researchers report a much better preservative penetration and retention.The institute is seeking a patent for its carbon dioxide technique. Wax block impregnated with aluminium phosphide The Australian research institute CSIRO has developed a wax block impregnated with aluminium phosphide for the control of insects in stored grain. The project was in cooperation with the Indian company United Phosphorus and the Australian firm AusBulk Ltd. The block allows controlled continuous release of phosphine in a special generator. It is currently in commercialscale field trials in Australia. Existing products which react with moisture in the grain to produce phosphine are often slow and uncontrolled. Blown film barriers reduce methyl bromide emissions It is claimed by blown film processors that 3–5 layer blown barrier traps can reduce emissions of methyl bromide into the atmosphere.A 34% reduction in emission levels can be achieved by using a special coextruded multi-layer gas barrier film called virtually impermeable film. A 5-layer structure is considered as superior to 3- layer web structures as it offers elevated protection of the intermediate layers which may have water-soluble pigments and additives that are easily washed out of 3- layer solutions. Repsol-YPF of Madrid Spain is proposing an alternative blownfilm web structure for glasshouses that taps the properties of CP224AB a PE compound based on a combination of organic Pesti c ide Outlook – Apr i l 2001 R&D NEWS UV absorbers to arrest the growth of plant diseases caused by viruses and fungi.In trials of the product on tomato plants Bemisa tabaci (white flies) a known transmitter of the Tomato Yellow Curl Leaf Virus did not enter the glasshouse due to a perception of a darkened environment not attractive to them. The UV blown film filters the light coming into the glasshouse to generate the effect. The film also arrests the growth of certain fungi that need UV light to produce spores. Natural resistance the glandular way Many plants have tiny glands called trichomes through which they secrete chemicals than can deter insect pests. Researchers have identified a cytochrome P450 enzyme unique to plant trichome glands which is involved in the production of these natural pesticides. When the activity of this enzyme was turned down in tobacco plants the concentration of a diterpene was elevated about 20-fold. The modified secreted more of the diterpene through their glands preventing aphids from attacking and forming colonies (Nature Biotechnology April 2001 371). Plants’ night-time defences Scientists at the US Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service published new insights into how plants defend themselves against insect attacks at night (Nature 29 March 2001). They found that tobacco plants (used as a laboratory tool) release herbivore-induced plant chemicals during both day and night and that several volatile compounds are released predominantly at night. These chemicals were highly repellent to female moths searching for sites to deposit their eggs. If the moths sense a chemical aroma it indicates that the crop is already larvae infested and they find another safer location for their offspring to develop. The researchers will conduct further studies that could help plant breeders develop new crop varieties with enhanced defence systems. 4 7

ISSN:0956-1250    

DOI:10.1039/b102654m

出版商:RSC    

年代:2001

数据来源: RSC

摘要:

BIOTECHNOLOGY NEWS GM plants make weedy weeds A ten-year survey published in Nature (8 February 2001 682–683) of four types of genetically modified (GM) crop has found that they do not survive well in the wild and are no more likely to invade other habitats than their unmodified counterparts. The study will help allay fears that GM plants will be super-weeds either in their own right or by breeding with unmodified plants. In 1990 Michael Crawley and colleagues of Imperial College London began testing how well modified and unmodified crops would survive in the wild. They planted all the GM crops available at the time – varieties of oilseed rape sugar beet maize and potato – alongside non-GM versions of the same crops. Within four years all plots of maize beet and rape had died out naturally.Only one plot of potatoes lasted the full decade and all the survivors are unmodified. But the researchers caution that plants genetically modified in the future for traits such as drought tolerance or pest resistance could be better at surviving on their own and that varieties with these traits will need to be tested as they are developed. Aventis’ StarLink Aventis is to set aside EUR 100 M against its 4th quarter 2000 results to cover the potential costs linked to various lawsuits against its transgenic maize StarLink in the US. Aventis is being sued in the US for not having warned farmers that its StarLink maize (which may cause allergic reactions in humans) had only been approved by the US authorities for animal feed and industrial applications.Aventis has agreed a four-year compensation deal with the attorney generals of 17 US states on the contamination caused by its GM maize variety StarLink. Fast-track oranges A team of researchers in Valencia and Madrid in Spain has exploited two genes from Arabidopsis [LEAFY (LFY) and APETALA1 (AP1)] to engineer orange trees which bloomed and produced fruit in their first year rather than their customary 5 or 6 years (Nature Biotechnology March 2001 263). These precocious characteristics were also inherited by offspring of the transgenic trees. The ability to persuade citrus and possibly other woody evergreens to cycle rapidly seems a promising tool for biodiversity and tree-breeding studies and could have potential economic benefits for fruit growers.48 Pest ic ide Outlook – Apr i l 2001 This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry 2001 Controlling potato sprouting Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Plant Physiology led by Eva Farré have been genetically modifying potatoes to sprout earlier than their wild-type counterparts (Nature Biotechnology March 2001 268). The sprouting of potatoes is initiated by starch breakdown and subsequent formation of various metabolites required for Worldwide GM crop area The area of GM (genetically modified) crops grown outside Europe continues to rise although the increase has flattened off recently; some 42 M ha were grown in 2000.The slowing of expansion is associated with the problem of exporting crops to the EU and the start of the anti-GM movement in the USA. A further problem is that the 1% tolerance in GM content in foods labelled as GM free is under attack with demands of zero tolerance. EU Directive on GM crops A revised EU directive on GM crops introduced to regain public trust in the approval scheme has been adopted by the EU parliament. The licensing labelling and monitoring of all GMs on the EU market will be tightened and all member states will keep a public register of the locations of all GM crops. However environmentalists warn that farmers and not biotechnology companies would be liable for any potential problems. Hopes that the new rules would end the three year de facto moratorium on approvals of new GM products have been slowed by opposition from France Denmark Greece Italy and Luxembourg.Their refusal to vote on new proposals until the issues of traceability labelling and liability have been cleared up could delay proceedings by a further two years according to Greenpeace. EPA framework on GM crops The US EPA has issued a set of final rules that lay down a framework for federal regulation of GM crops and plants that make their own pesticides. The rules define the type of plant-incorporated pesticides (PIPs) which have to undergo scientific evaluation to ensure protection of human health and safety. In some cases where the agency establishes that PIPs present little or no health or environmental risk they will be exempted from certain regulatory requirements.The DNA involved in the production of the pesticidal substance in the plant will be exempted from the tolerance requirements. growth. Knowing that pyrophosphate plays a central role in starch degradation and sucrose synthesis they generated transgenic potatoes expressing in their tubers a bacterial enzyme that breaks down pyrophosphate (pyrophosphatase). The resulting GM potatoes exhibited a reduction in pyrophosphate and a resultant increase in starch breakdown and sucrose production. These potatoes sprouted 15 weeks after planting 7 weeks earlier than the wild-type. The trait was also passed on to subsequent generations suggesting that the pyrophosphatase was stable in the potato DNA.Potatoes that sprout sooner could help in regions where two potato crops are grown each year; where infection during dormancy is prevalent; and where seed potatoes are exported between regions of different climate. The knowledge gained by this research could some day result in GM potatoes with delayed sprouting which would enable longer-term storage and transport of the tubers. Snippets …press criticism of GM falls Monsanto has followed press coverage of the GM (genetically modified) crop debate with keen interest. In 1999 the year genetic modification was first intensively publicised some 3400 press articles were recorded. In 2000 the number fell to 1,600 with the fall being more marked towards the end of the year.In December 2000 the coverage turned out to be more positive that negative 61% of the articles were judged to be neutral in opinion 22% in support and 17% against. …fungal resistance gene Monsanto researchers have successfully transferred fungal resistance between plant species. A protein in alfalfa (lucerne) that slows or halts the growth of verticillium wilt and some other fungi has been introduced into Russet Burbank a variety of potato. Following a programme of selection a variety of the potato has been produced that is 3 to 5 times more resistant to the disease than the original variety. …Monsanto gets experimental use permits for GM corn crops The EPA has issued Monsanto with three experimental permits allowing limited planti ng of a GM corn crops including a corn engineered to produce a protein called Cr3Bb Bacillus thuringiensis to combat corn rootworm. The Union of Concerned Scientists has joined other groups in opposing Monsanto’s application to register the pesticide. DO1 10.1039/ b102655k

ISSN:0956-1250    

DOI:10.1039/b102655k

出版商:RSC    

年代:2001

数据来源: RSC

摘要:

Paterson’s Curse – one of Australia’s worst pasture weeds NEW WEED RESEARCH CENTRE IN AUSTRALIA Sharon Corey from the new Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) for Australian Weed Management reports on their objectives and activities A new national CRC for Australian Weed Management has been set up to incorporate organisations from all Australian States and Territories in the fight against weeds. The new CRC will work to enhance the sustainability of farming systems and the conservation status of natural ecosystems across Australia. Through world-class collaborative research it will target generic control problems using integrated weed management. The Centre’s approach will be to address weed problems in three general ways l to reduce the influx of new weeds from abroad and to more effectively manage new incursions already in Australia without unduly affecting access to new species of beneficial plants for Australian primary industries l by novel integration of agronomy weedcompetitive crop cultivars agricultural engineering biocontrol and smart herbicide use to reduce the costs of weed to primary industry while improving the sustainability of agriculture l through the use of multi-disciplinary approaches including biological control grazing fire herbicides and vegetation management protect the integrity of Australia’s landscapes and natural ecosystems One focus of the new Centre will be on the so-called sleeper weeds – those that are present already but have not yet become major problems.The new CRC which will commence operations on 1 July 2001 is intended to move towards more pro-active research in weed prevention and control with community involvement playing a major role. Associate Professor Rick Roush will be the Chief Executive of the new CRC which will be based at the University of Adelaide in South Australia. An example of the work of the current Weeds CRC is their collaboration with CSIRO Entomology in controlling the common pasture weed Paterson’s Curse using biological control. By the end of 2001 Australian Wool Innovation This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry 2001 Pest ic ide Outlook – Apr i l 2001 Limited Meat and Livestock Australia and the Weeds CRC will have directed A$5.9 million towards the biological control of Paterson’s Curse.As the agents spread and impact upon Paterson’s Curse the benefits from this research will continue to be realised in the form of increased productivity for landholders and reduced chemical use. Another example of the international collaboration that will be encouraged by the new Weeds CRC is the involvement of Ms. Lynley Hayes of Landcare Research an organisation responsible for environmental research in New Zealand. Whilst government has traditionally funded research for biological control local authorities and others with land management responsibilities have funded the mass rearing and release of the insects. Ms Hayes has worked closely with land managers in NZ to ensure they have access to the information they require which has lead to more successful establishment and spread of agents. Ms. Hayes’ collaboration will enhance the establishment of a similar technology transfer program in Australia. For more information on the CRC for Weed Management see http://www.waite.adelaide.edu.au/CRCWMS DOI 10. 1 0 3 9 / b 1 0 2 6 6 2 n WEED CONTROL 4 9

ISSN:0956-1250    

DOI:10.1039/b102662n

出版商:RSC    

年代:2001

数据来源: RSC

摘要:

POTATOES 5 0 ADDRESSING PEST AND DISEASE PROBLEMS FOR THE UK POTATO INDUSTRY Martin Hims and Steve Hill on behalf of Plant Health Group Central Science Laboratory (CSL) York UK discuss a range of potato pest and disease problems The surveillance of pests and diseases by the UK Central Science Laboratory (CSL) through commercial testing seed certification international consultancy and multi-faceted R&D provides an blend of complementary experience and expertise which has enabled CSL researchers to resolve a range of potato problems in recent years in collaboration with industry representatives. l Tuber blight is wholly unacceptable in today’s market and yet the average number of field applications of fungicide varies considerably. During non-blight years (1993–1996) it was 8.4 and in the blight year of 1997 10.7 with a range of 0–18 sprays over all surveyed crops demonstrating that there are opportunities to successfully tailor fungicide programmes for blight control.Disease surveys supplemented by pest monitoring are a fundamental activity providing a comprehensive awareness of pest and disease incidence and an unrivalled base from which to investigate problems and find solutions tailored to appropriate industry sectors. Survey data also provides the only means to assess objectively the impact of industry changes on pests and diseases so that research priorities are identified and scarce resources targeted appropriately. Increasing use by the potato industry of the CSL Commercial Diagnostic Service provides valuable additional intelligence and an early warning of industry problems.Potato disease surveys Each year CSL has collected potato disease information on seed the field crop and stored progeny tubers countywide from representative cultivars. Survey highlights include data on virus incidence stem canker and pesticide use (Figures 1 and 2). l The inability to visually identify Potato Virus Y (PVY) in the field just prior to burning-off and the high levels recorded in harvested progeny illustrate the risks of using stocks for seed without first having them virus indexed. l Stem canker causing considerable industry concern has been present in up to 70% of surveyed crops with up to 20% plants affected in a third of these.Figure 1. Prevalence of potato diseases in the UK (1995–1999). Figure 2. Fungicide use on potatoes in the UK (1993–1999). Pest ic ide Outlook – Apr i l 2001 This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry 2001 Non-indigenous potato diseases and pests The responsibility for maintaining international vigilance for non-indigenous pests and diseases completes the overall coverage provided by CSL. A good example of the significance of this role and of the way the organisation adapts to deal with industry problems is that of potato brown rot. It was first addressed as a non-indigenous disease the objective being to develop robust but sensitive diagnostic techniques for detection and identification of the brown rot bacterial pathogen (caused by Ralstonia solanacearum) (Figure 3).Figure 3. Brown rot (caused by Ralstonia solanacearum). Photo courtesy of CSL DOI 10.1039/b102661p EU and other diagnostic methods were considered either inappropriate or insufficiently reliable for the testing programme necessary after the disease was first confirmed in a UK crop. Nor were the methods considered wholly appropriate for proving that seed tuber imports from t h e Netherlands where brown rot was widespread were free of the pathogen. Only by devising improved techniques and using them in combination could consistently reliable methods be developed. The diagnostic protocols developed at CSL have now been validated as part of an EU scheme and several of them have been proposed for testing water soil and processing waste as well as plant material.After the disease was confirmed in the UK the emphasis shifted to clarify its epidemiology here. Groundbreaking research identified the hitherto unsuspected role of aquatic weeds in the survival of the pathogen as well confirming the role of ‘infested’ watercourses in its’ spread. The emphasis of CSL research has now shifted to aspects of its control. Current and future work will concentrate on disease avoidance particularly in the context of potato processing and waste disposal. Potato ring rot (Figure 4) caused by Clavibacter michiga - nensis subsp. sepedonicus is not yet found in the UK but is present in North America and latterly in many EU countries. The disease is very damaging and is therefore one reason for restrictions in seed potato trading.The disease is of particular concern because infected tubers may not exhibit symptoms so that visual inspection to prevent movement and trading of diseased tubers is inadequate. Significant progress has been made in the development of reliable and robust molecular techniques for detecting the bacterial pathogen in such latent infections and in detecting the pathogen in soil in weeds and on surfaces associated with potato production. Future work will use these techniques to evaluate on farm eradication measures. CSL along with the Plant Health and Seeds Inspectors for England and Wales maintain continued vigilance for the arrival of non-indigenous quarantine pests of potato.Examples of such are the plant-parasitic root-knot nematodes of the genus Meloidogyne M. chitwoodi and M. hapla (Figure 5). Correct identification is vital to their exclusion but traditional microscope techniques present particular difficulties Figure 6. Colorado beetle – still a potential threat to potatoes in the UK. Photo courtesy of CSL. Figure 4. Potato ring rot (caused by Clavibacter michiganensis). Photo courtesy of CSL. Figure 5. Damage caused by root-knot nematodes of genus Meloidogyne. Photo courtesy of CSL. POTATOES because nematodes often have few distinguishing characters and the variability of some of these makes positive identification difficult. Isozyme phenotypes of esterase and malate dehydrogenase (MDH) are species-specific and useful as reliable characters for Meloidogyne identification.Fractions of nematode extracts containing these isozymes are currently being evaluated for use in electrophoresis tests to enhance CSL’s ability to distinguish quarantine nematodes from other nematode species. Colorado beetle (Figure 6) the old enemy continues to be a major and important threat to the UK despite its exclusion and/or eradication for more than 120 years. Trade social and leisure activities increase the potential for importing adult beetles into the UK where it could happily establish since CSL models have shown that development rates in the Cotentin peninsula of France where it causes severe damage if not controlled are similar to those in southern UK. CSL has used another model CLIMEX in a geographical information system to predict the potential distribution of Colorado beetle in the UK under both current and future climate conditions.A prediction for 2060 allowing for higher temperatures as a result of climate change shows an increase in potential range of 102% including virtually all traditional seed and ware potato growing areas. 5 1 Pest ic ide Outlook – Apr i l 2001 POTATOES Figure 7. Potato blight (caused by Phytophthora infestans) Photo courtesy of CSL. Potato blight Potato blight (Figure 7) continues to exert a major impact on the economics of potato production 150 years after its arrival in the UK. Survey data highlight the use of fungicides for blight c o n t rol and the continued tendency to apply these as insurance sprays.Blight epidemiology is well understood but attempts to rationalise fungicide use by predicting blight development have been unsuccessful. In an attempt to reverse this unsatisfactory situation research at CSL has evaluated simultaneously different blight forecasting schemes of varying complexity from the USA and Continental Europe; none were wholly reliable under UK conditions. Currently national regional and ‘local’ blight predictions based on the simple UK ‘Smith Period’ model use data obtained from the Meteorological Office’s synoptic network of weather stations. These are not necessarily sited in areas of potato production but nevertheless they have provided an indication of blight favourable weather.However weather conditions can vary markedly across even a small geographical area rendering blight predictions inaccurate and undermining grower confidence. In a CSL research project the weather data required for the Smith Period model were recorded from three sites at different altitudes within a 4 km radius and showed tremendous variation in predicted risk. Given this scenario CSL has developed an in-field blight prediction system for the UK that can utilise m e t e o ro l o g i c a l data recorded from portable weather stations and a weathermonitoring algorithm designed to give a warning when favourable conditions for infection by the blight fungus occur. This algorithm calculates a fungicide spray threshold and advises a repeat application if conditions remain conducive to blight development after the protection afforded by the earlier application is lost.The forecast system called Blight Early Warning System (BLEWS) is still under development but shows considerable promise. An important advantage of the system is that it allows for adjustment to the time interval between treatments so that sprays are not applied when the blight risk is low. The provision of robust forecasting systems and their widespread adoption forms a key component of the strategy to minimise pesticide use and improve competitiveness. In Pest ic ide Outlook – Apr i l 2001 52 addition disease forecasting is becoming more important to producers as a means of justifying the use of pesticides to the customer.Forecasts will therefore play an increasing role in defining protocols for food production security and its safe delivery to the consumer. Aphid population and virus dynamics Similar research stems from the long-standing involvement of CSL staff in providing technical support for the development and administration of the seed potato certification scheme. The deregulation of potato seed production in England and Wales has allowed growers to utilise lowland areas for growing seed which in some years may be under considerable threat from PVY. By monitoring aphid vectors at the field/crop level growers can rationalise management strategies to minimise the risk of PVY infected seed. PVY is transmitted non-persistently by a number of aphid species with varying degrees of efficiency.In collaboration with Cambridge University Farms and a number of English lowland seed growers aphid vectors have been monitored at 16 sites in each year since 1995. Using water traps set at the crop canopy level weekly indices of vector pressure are calculated based on the numbers of individual vector species trapped and their efficiency at transmitting PVY This index is accumulated throughout the growing season to give an indication of the potential risk of PVY infection occurring at each site. Considerable variation is observed between sites and years over the years of the study period but nevertheless growers have found this scheme to be a useful tool in planning haulm destruction dates to minimise PVY infection.The epidemiology of PVY is complex and involves factors other than vector pressure such as seed-borne virus input levels mature plant resistance varietal resistance and insecticide usage. CSL research continues to determine the significance of these individual factors and to produce a more refined tool that growers can use to rationalise the decision making process and minimise the risk of PVY infection within lowland seed production. Field-based virus diagnostic kits Whilst the spread of virus diseases into potential seed potato crops is important an equally relevant aspect of this production relates to the health of the parent seed. Whether in certification or where growers are concerned to produce healthy virus-free seed for their own use the ability to identify virus-infected parent plants is vital.Accurate diagnosis of virus disease is essential to ensure valid inspection for certific a t i on and to enable reliable judgements on home-saving of seed. Many modern potato cultivars express only mild symptoms when PVY is tuber-borne. Distinguishing such symptoms from those of milder viruses or non-pathogenic conditions can be difficult and is often subjective. Using the internationally recognised skills of CSL staff in the development of diagnostic techniques a field kit for the confirmation of PVY has been developed along with PVA PVS PVV and PVX. Other so-called field test kits are typically multistep methods which need 10 to 30 minutes to perform need refrigerating and it is doubtful whether they can be per-Figure 8.Pocket Diagnostics™ test kits for potato viruses. LEFT – closeup of test kit (second line in upper kit indicating the presence of virus. Photo courtesy of CSL. RIGHT – test kit in use. formed practically in a field or “on-site” location. CSL staff have now developed single-step antibody-based field kits that diagnose five potato virus diseases direct from leaf sap. The test provides a result in two minutes or less and is in the style of the well-known home pregnancy testing kits (Figure 8). More information on these Pocket Diagnostic™ test kits for potato and other plant viruses is available at http //www.csl.gov.uk/pocketdiagnostics. Third party validation confirms that Pocket Diagnostics are a valuable and consistently reliable tool in the diagnosis and management of virus diseases and the production of healthy potato seed.1 recombinant coat protein and belong to the NTN biotype.A subgroup within the ordinary strains possibly composed of PVYC isolates was also observed. A PCR assay has been developed which identified isolates falling into each group and which can be used to confirm the presence of NTN in infected tubers. Two further isolates were identified however which belong to the NTN bio-type but which do not have a recombinant coat protein suggesting that the recombination event is not important for the induction of symptoms but is often associated with it. This suggests there are at least two genotypes of PVY which cause PTNRD.During 1998 PVYNTN was confirmed for the first time in English potato crops. The primary and secondary (tuber-borne) symptoms of PVYNTN on more than 20 UK grown potato cultivars were recorded and photographs and descriptions made. Secondary foliar symptoms were generally different and less distinctive than the primary ones and differed markedly between cultivars. Only a limited number of cultivars exhibited tuber symptoms. POTATOES New methods for detecting tuber-borne potato viruses A common disease in Europe and North America leading to potato tuber rejection is spraing appearing as brown necrotic arcs in tuber flesh. Spraing is induced by two soilborne viruses tobacco rattle tobravirus (TRV) and potato mop-top pomovirus (PMTV) transmitted by nematodes of the genera Trichodorus/Paratrichodorus and Spongospora subterranea respectively.Accurate determination of the causal agent is important as control measures differ for the two viruses. To improve the diagnosis CSL has developed a multiplex TaqMan assay which allows detection of both viruses in one tube. The new assay is 1000x more sensitive than the traditional PMTV ELISA and 100x more sensitive than the TRV RT-PCR. The results show the new assay allows the rapid specific and sensitive detection of TRV and PMTV in a single assay saving both time and labour compared to existing techniques. New PVY strains Potato virus research has also been a CSL speciality in relation to the need to understand and thereby prevent the introduction of non-indigenous viruses.Recent work has helped resolve the nature of a new and virulent PVY strain PVYNTN. First reported in Hungary in 1984 this virus disease has subsequently been found further and further west in Europe. Infection by the virus causes a superficial ringshaped necrosis on the surface of the tubers (potato tuber necrotic ring disease or PTNRD) which renders them unsaleable. In some cultivars the incidence and severity of symptoms has led to 100% crop loss. A risk assessment of this relatively new virus isolate to the UK potato crop has been based on CSL research into its’ detection and epidemiology. Relationships of the PVYNTN isolates have been examined within the taxonomy of the PVY group as a whole using the sequence of the coat protein gene for a large number of isolates.Sub-groups were identified according to the biotype of the different isolate. Two main groups necrotic (N) and ordinary (O) were observed as well as a sub-group within the N group in which all members had a 1 Please note that Chris Danks a researcher at CSL was awarded the 2001 Westminster Medal at a House of Commons Reception for Younger Scientists Engineers and Technologists on 19 March 2001 for his work on the development of Pocket Diagnostics™. 5 3 Pest ic ide Outlook – Apr i l 2001 POTATOES Current methods for detecting virus in dormant tubers concentrate on the growing on of tuber eye cuttings and ELISA testing of the sprouts a time consuming method taking from 4 to 6 weeks to complete.The ability to detect plant viruses in tissues where their titre is very low (e.g. PVY in potato tubers) using PCR is well documented. However the wide-scale use of PCR is limited due to problems in handling large numbers of samples. Work at CSL has concentrated on the development of PCR for routine use in particular by investigating improved product detection. Initial work concentrated on the development of a multiplex assay which includes broad-spectrum PVY detection with an internal positive control which could be used for large scale testing. The results indicate that TaqMan has considerable potential in helping towards the development of PCR for the large-scale routine detection of potato and other viruses. Large-scale comparisons of the TaqMan assay and the growing on test are on-going.Expertise on potato pests and diseases arises for a variety of different reasons within CSL. The examples given demonstrate the extent to which all aspects of the CSL work inter-relate to strengthen each other. Increasing contacts with the industry through the British Potato Council NFU seed producers processors and merchants complement our long-standing commitment to dealing with problems of both indigenous and non-indigenous pests and pathogens. Our combination of biology and diagnostic research in the context of statutory control and commercial production PREVIOUS ARTICLES IN PESTICIDE OUTLOOK ON POTATOES Potato blight control in Ireland (Cooke) – Pesticide Outlook 1992 3(4) 28.Potato blight – global challenges and new problems (Cooke and Deahl) – Pesticide Outlook 1998 9(6) 22. Promoting international collaboration for potato late blight disease management (the CEEM Project) (Raman et al.) – Pesticide Outlook 2000 11(5) 181. Late blight of potato and its control in Russia (Dyakov and Derevjagina) – Pesticide Outlook 2000 11(6) 230. Pesti c ide Outlook – Apr i l 2001 54 provides an ideal basis for a well-integrated and wellfocussed approach to potato problems. For further information on the work of CSL in potatoes and other areas see http://www.csl.gov Dr Martin Hims is Business Development Manager for the Plant Health Group at the Central Science Laboratory (CSL). Martin’s career began in ADAS Plant Pathology at Newcastle where he specialised in diseases of vegetables and arable crops. Moving to Wye in 1984 Martin continued to work on diseases of arable crops leading to his appointment to the post of Head of Disease Assessment Branch at Plant Pathology Laboratory Harpenden in 1990. On assimilation of Plant Pathology Laboratory into CSL and its move to York Martin took responsibility for the wider development of the Plant Health Group business. Professor Stephen Hill is Head of the Plant Health Group at CSL. Trained as a plant pathologist Stephen became ADAS National Plant Virologist in 1976 eventually moving to take responsibility for virology at the then MAFF Plant Pathology Laboratory at Harpenden in 1984. As the pest and disease science at Harpenden became part of the emerging CSL Agency in 1992 Professor Hill took overall responsibility for the re-named Plant Health Group embracing both plant pathology and entomology. CSL relocated to Sand Hutton near York in 1996.

ISSN:0956-1250    

DOI:10.1039/b102661p

出版商:RSC    

年代:2001

数据来源: RSC

摘要:

CONFERENCE REPORT In this 52-page edition of the guide all the tables of products (which constitute half of the publication) have been completely updated and new sections on organic seed ‘mobile’ seed treatment and the International Seed Treatment Association (ISTA) are included. There is new labelling advice for seed potatoes and imported seed as well as revised sections on seed health testing pests and disease targets and minor use arrangements. Copies of A Guide to Seed Treatments in the UK 4th edition (ISBN 1 901396 28 2) cost £10 including P&P in the UK. Orders should be sent to BCPC Publication Sales (see above for details) SEED TREATMENT CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES NEW SEED TREATMENT GUIDE It was timely that a new 4th edition of the popular A Guide to Seed Treatments in the UK edited by Derek Soper should have been launched at this seeds meeting.The guide is aimed to meet the need to keep up-to-date with changes in recommendations and product approval status as well as company mergers and acquisitions in the specialised seed treatment market since the publication of the last edition in 1995. The guide provides up-to-date information on UK seed treatments for use against a variety of pests and diseases in all the major UK crops including broad-acre and minor crops as well as bulbs and seed potatoes. Derek Soper reports on a BCPC (British Crop Protection Council) seed treatment symposium held at the Belfry Resort Hotel Warwickshire UK on 26–27 February 2001 The challenge to maintain and improve the seed health and growth of a wide range of crops was the main theme.The loss of organomercurials and lindane for example have accelerated the development and adoption of alternatives. Advances in new fungicide chemistry are starting to increase the range of seed treatments available. Alternative chemicals and the use of physiological techniques to enhance crop establishment are now becoming widely used whilst crop production protocols following the principles of integrated crop management are having an effect on the use of existing products and the introduction of new ones. Control of take-all of wheat is now possible by chemical seed treatment using the recently-launched fluquinconazole (Aventis) or silthiofam (Monsanto) (awaiting UK registration) though varieties responded differently and somewhat unpredicatably to these fungicides.The Syngenta neonicotinoid insecticide thiamethoxam featured in several papers and posters demonstrating potential for controlling aphids flea beetles wireworms attacking major global crops. Research at IACR Broom’s Barn UK has found it gave control of aphids and virus in sugar beet equivalent to the currently used imidacloprid of the same chemical group. Both materials were active against capsids and flea beetles in sugar beet in Finland. Imidacloprid plus beta-cyfluthrin (Bayer) has shown potential as a much-needed replacement for lindane (gamma- HCH) against these beetles (and virus) in UK winter rape. For the same reason thiamethoxam is being developed on spring rape (canola) in Canada.Research at Horticultural Research International (HRI) and at Newcastle University on using antagonistic bacteria and mycoparasites to combat seed and soil-borne diseases is showing promise. Application in film coatings and during seed priming is being investigated. In Denmark seed treatment with either dilute acetic acid or mustard flour achieved control of bunt just short of the 98% desirable. In Sweden sanitation of infected cereal seed with warm air gave results comparable to chemicals. Despite all these encouraging developments there is still a danger that seed health could be compromised by omitting treatments to save money rather than exploiting them more to save sprays. The 288-page symposium proceedings Seed Treatment Challenges & Opportunities (ISBN 1 901396 76 2) is available now priced £35 plus appropriate delivery charge from BCPC Publication Sales Bear Farm Binfield Bracknell Berkshire RG42 5QE UK. Tel 0118 934 2727 Fax 0118 934 1998. Email publications@bcpc.org. 5 5 DOI 10.1039/b102657g Pest ic ide Outlook – Apr i l 2001 This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry 2001

ISSN:0956-1250    

DOI:10.1039/b102657g

出版商:RSC    

年代:2001

数据来源: RSC

摘要:

RESISTANCE RESISTANCE MANAGEMENT AND THE REGISTRATION OF PESTICIDE PRODUCTS IN EUROPE Phil Russell of Aventis CropScience at Lyon in France discusses the increasing importance of resistance risk analysis within the European pesticide registration process to produce a Guideline for use by applicants and regulators in order to help them construct the dossier and interpret it respectively. A review of the process by which this Guideline was produced is given by McNamara and Smith (2000) and the Guideline is published in OEPP/EPPO (1999). Background Resistance to pesticides (insecticides herbicides fungicides) by pests (insects weeds fungi) can have very serious consequences to the user the producer and the environment. For the user the build-up of resistance will lead to loss of pest control leading to loss of marketable crop and consequential loss of income.For the producer resistance can mean severe loss of sales and a considerable loss on the investment made in developing new products. For the environment it can mean overuse of a product in an often desperate attempt to control a resistant pest or eventually the possible reliance on older less environmentally friendly products. Up until the early 1990s there was no requirement for a product to be marketed and used in accordance with an approved resistance management strategy. Resistance management and the strategies employed to maintain product efficacy were voluntary. Because of the problems that resistance could cause the vast majority of producers marketed their products within the resistance management guidelines issued by the Resistance Action Committees (RACs) of the Global Crop Protection Federation (GCPF).Most users abided by the advice given and so reaped the benefits. The introduction of regulation This position changed with the introduction and implementation of EC Directive 91/414/EEC (Anon 1991) and subsequently Commission Directive 93/717/EEC (Anon 1994). There was now a requirement as part of the registration process for new active ingredients and the products containing them and the re-registration of established products for information on the actual or possible occurrence of resistance to be provided together with details of a management strategy to avoid resistance or to manage it if it was already present.This was a major step forward and was generally welcomed by the agrochemical industry. It did however present many problems. The published directives were felt to be vague gave no guidance to the registration applicant on what information was required to support the application and similarly gave no guidance to the regulators on what information to expect nor on how to interpret it when provided. It was soon recognised that confusion could develop that different applicants would adopt different standards for data supplied and that different regulators could apply different standards to the evaluation of the submitted dossiers. Eventually the European and Mediterranean Plant Protection Organisation (EPPO) was asked by regulators from its member countries Pest ic ide Outlook – Apr i l 2001 This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry 2001 The data requirements and risk analysis process The Guideline sets out a suggested way of approaching the problem of assessing the risk of resistance developing and of then developing strategies to prevent limit or manage its development such that the product has as long an active life as possible.The Guideline is not a ‘statutory requirement’ as such but it is realistically expected that applicants will follow the suggested formats and that regulators will follow the advice contained within it. Probably the most important aspect is that the onus is on the applicant to produce the analysis and to justify the conclusions and proposed resistance management strategies.The process requires the applicant to consider several factors that affect the risk of using the product on a particular crop to control a particular pest under particular conditions. If the risk factors without any resistance management are considered too high then a management strategy has to be proposed and justified. Full details of the steps involved are contained in the Guideline but will be summarised here Inherent risk This is a risk factor that is generally beyond our control and applies to both the pest to be controlled and to the at-risk active ingredient. Many pests e.g. cereal powdery mildews aphids potato late blight grey mould (Botrytis cinerea) are well known to be able to develop resistance quickly.Introduction of a new chemical for their control would automatically generate concern. For all types of pest management but especially plant disease control history has shown that we should expect a moderate to high risk of development of resistance to new treatments in the absence of management strategies. As very few actual risk data may be available at the time of registration of a new active ingredient from new chemistry it would be wise to regard all new chemistry as showing a potential risk of resistance development. These risk factors need to be considered and explained in the registration dossier drawing on historical experience where applicable. 56 DOI 10.1039/b102663c Agronomic risk The risk produced by the combination of the pest and product risks analysed as the ‘inherent risk’ leads to a consideration of t h e agronomic risk when no resistance management strategies are employed.This needs to be considered and a decision made as to whether or not the risk is acceptable or whether measures need to be introduced to reduce the risk. As an example consider a potential new fungicide to control Phytophthora infestans. We know that there is no cross resistance between our new active and established fungicides. We have no information on the mode of action of the active nor on the possible mode of resistance. We know that Phytophthora infestans is a high risk pathogen and that potentially we could base a control programme around applying our new active for every spray of the season maybe upto or over 14 applications.Is it reasonable to expect that such a proposal would not lead to development of re sistance? The logical answer is ‘No’. So our assessment of the agronomic risk is that it is too high to be accepted for unrestricted or unmodified use of our new active and we come to the conclusion that we must alter the pattern of use of our product in order to reduce the risk to an acceptable level. This leads to the development of a resistance management strategy by the introduction of ‘modifiers’. Modifiers Modifiers can be considered to be any means by which the unacceptable risk posed by unrestricted use of our product is reduced to an acceptable level. They include l Reducing the number of applications of our product l Selling the product as a coformulated mixture with a noncross-resistant partner or recommending application in tank mix with a non-cross-resistant partner l Recommending specific application programmes including non-cross-resistant partners.These take several forms – recommending alternations with our new product – recommending restrictions on the number of sequential applications (blocks) of our new product l Recommending specific spray application timings to avoid excessive selection pressure for resistance l Any combination of the above Of course different modifiers could be used in different environments for the same pest-crop system and it is not expected that the same modifier strategy will apply to all crops that the product is to be used on.The applicant is expected to produce a management strategy based on stated modifiers and explain why it will work. Supportive data Baseline studies. It is obviously necessary to have a means of determining whether or not resistance develops to an active ingredient. This means that an activity or sensitivity reference point needs to be established for the response of the nonresistant population before exposure to the new active substance. This reference point is termed the ‘baseline’. For RESISTANCE most fungi it can be established by appropriate in vitro or in vivo techniques but for weeds some fungi and some insects these laboratory processes are very difficult or not available so initial field efficacy has to be relied upon as the reference.The applicant is expected to provide evidence of having obtained the baseline reference data together with a method of assaying possible resistance should it be suspected. It must also be remembered that the baseline data cannot be used as any predictor as to whether the risk of development of resistance is high or low. Biochemical mode of action mode of resistance and crossresistance. These parameters can be very useful in assessing the risk of resistance developing. Unfortunately they are rarely known for a new active substance from new chemistry at the time of a registration application. For this reason the Guideline requests that evidence on these parameters should be provided where known but that if not known information should be provided on the tests completed.As an example the biochemical mode of action may not be known but the fact that it is not a known mode of action should be established by testing for known actions and reported. Similarly evidence of cross-resistance or lack of it to known molecules with resistance problems should be provided. Evidence to support the strategy. Wherever possible the applicant should provide data to illustrate that the proposed management strategy including the various modifiers will not select for resistance and allow it to dominate the population to be controlled. Of course this can be difficult to do given the timescales of a new product development programme before a registration submission but it is considered that in most cases some data can be gathered.This will include application of the proposed strategy monitoring of the response of the pest population to the application and comparison with the baseline. Strategy implementation and monitoring The applicant is expected to provide an example product label which should explain to the user how to use the product in order to manage resistance. The applicant should also inform the regulator how the proposed strategy will be promoted in the marketplace and what steps will be introduced to allow the success of the strategy to be monitored. Further considerations problems and developments Placing the risk analysis in the registration process It is obvious that the true risk analysis is specific to the use of a product to control a particular pest on a particular crop in a specific environment.For this reason it has been suggested by industry that the Risk Assessment is not applicable for consideration of the registration process for the active ingredient (Annex I and II) but is only of use for registration of a formulated product (Annex III) which is done at individual member state level. 5 7 Pest ic ide Outlook – Apr i l 2001 RESISTANCE Registration of new active substances from known chemistry Registration of known chemistry has some advantages in that there should be a wealth of information available on the occurrence of resistance mode of action etc. But it also presents some problems especially if the applicant desires to introduce a different resistance management strategy to that already employed for products in the same cross resistance group.For most established chemistry for which two or more companies sell products regulators will look towards the RACs to establish agreed management strategies but it could happen that a company may wish to recommend different use patterns. This can happen for several reasons e.g. access to particular mixture partners or due to a specific unique biological property of the new active. Means of resolving possible conflicts are currently being considered. Re-registration of established products For established products there should be information available on mode of action cross resistance mode of resistance and the presence of resistance if appropriate.What may not be available especially for older molecules are extensive baseline sensitivity data particularly from laboratory assays. In these situations it should be permissable to use field efficacy data to illustrate that a product is still functioning as expected and hence there is no evidence of resistance. Links between registration data sets Potential problems are seen between the need to establish various toxicological parameters e.g. Maximum Residue Levels (MRLs) and the development of a resistance management strategy. This is because the MRL trials process starts quite early in the development process for a new active and a decision has to be taken on a number of applications of the product under consideration.Data are thus gathered on the basis of this number of applications. If however later studies show that for resistance management purposes the application number or sequence has to change or indeed a change is imposed by the regulator an imbalance in data sets is generated as the MRL data will not refer to the proposed use pattern. This problem has been highlighted and is under consideration as industry believe that registration should not be unduly delayed in these circumstances. Disagreement between applicant and regulator It is hoped that this will not happen and applicants are advised to consult with the appropriate regulator during the process of developing the risk analysis and management strategy to ensure that no nasty surprises appear on examination of the dossier.If however disagreement does occur which cannot be resolved between the applicant and the regulator a means of resolving the conflict still needs to be determined. What constitutes a baseline? There has been much debate over what constitutes a base- Pest ic ide Outlook – Apr i l 2001 58 RESISTANCE ACTION GROUPS (RACs) For further details on RACs see the following FRAC (Fungicide Resistance Action Group) see http://www.gcpf.org/frac/frac.html and Pesticide Outlook 1999 10(5) 213 HRAC (Herbicide Resistance Action Group) see http://www.gcpf.org/hrac/hrac.html and Pesticide Outlook 1998 9(4) 17 IRAC (Insecticide Resistance Action Group) see http://www.gcpf.org/irac/irac.html and Pesticide Outlook 1994 6(5) 29 RRAC (Rodenticide Resistance Action Group) see http://www.gcpf.org/rrac/rrac.html line in terms of number of data points and what baseline is applicable.The industry view is that the number of data points should be determined by the applicant and justified in the dossier. For what baseline is applicable the industry view is that the most appropriate and available one should be used. In this context it is important to note that generation of laboratory baseline data is a very expensive operation as many man-years of effort may have to be expended in order to produce an assessment method and more man-years then used to obtain data. In these circumstances and for some minor crops or minor pests it may not be financially worthwhile to generate laboratory data.In these circumstances it is suggested that field efficacy data are used. Acceptance of data between countries Annex III will be considered at individual country level. However it could happen that not all data will be gathered in all countries particularly data to support baseline laboratory studies or to support the proposed management strategy. Concern has been expressed that some countries may demand data from their own country but industry feels that provided the applicant can give a reasoned argument why data from a neighbouring country can be used this should be allowed. The question is still open. Conclusion The pesticide registration process has changed in Europe to place far more emphasis on resistance management.The Resistance Risk Analysis component of a registration submission dossier is now of equal importance to all other components. Without it registration is likely to be delayed until it is provided. Industry has accepted these changes and is working actively with regulators to produce a fair understandable system for appraisal of the Analyses and resultant resistance management strategies. The EPPO panel that produced the original Guideline is currently working to resolve the outstanding issues. References Anon. (1991). Council Directive (91/414/EEC) concerning the placing of plant protection products on the market. Official Journal of the European Community L230 19 August 1991 1–32 Anon.(1994). Commission Directive (94/37/EC) amending Council Directive 91/414/EEC concerning the placing of plant protection products on the market. Official Journal of the European Community L194 22 July 1994 65–81 Journal of Environmental Monitoring (JEM) – providing high quality information about your environment Journal of Environmental Monitoring (JEM) provides comprehensive coverage of all aspects of contaminant measurement relating to the indoor outdoor and workplace environments. Scope and Content l l l l l l l l l l l l JEM also features a highly relevant news section that contains an in-depth article on an issue of public and scientific concern a pesticides column and regular news sections. Visit www.rsc.org/jem for full details Submissions can be sent to Harp Minhas (Managing Editor) Royal Society of Chemistry Thomas Graham House Science Park Milton Road Cambridge CB4 0WF UK.(Tel +44 (0)1223 432293 Fax +44 (0)1223 420247 E-mail jem@rsc.org) Orders & further details from Sales & Customer Care Dept. Royal Society of Chemistry at the above address (Tel +44 (0)1223 432360. Fax +44 (0)1223 423429 E-mail sales@rsc.org) Analysis of contaminants Contaminant source characterisation transport and deposition Contaminant pathways (uptake metabolism fate) Multimedia sampling/monitoring (air soil water sediment) Biological monitoring (body fluids tissues sentinels) Biological surveillance (toxicity health impairments) Speciation of toxic elements and other contaminants Advances in monitoring technology New methodologies Sampling strategies Quality assurance/control Legislative issues and guidelines Pest ic ide Outlook – Apr i l 2001 McNamara D.; Smith I. M. (2000). Development of an international standard on resistance risk analysis. Proceedings of The BCPC Conference – Pests & Diseases 2 765–770 OEPP/EPPO (1999) EPPO Standard PP 1/213(1). Resistance Risk RESISTANCE Analysis. Bulletin OEPP/EPPO Bulletin 29 325-347 Professor Phil Russell is Fungicide Resistance Manager for Aventis Crop Science and Chairman of the Central Steering Committee of FRAC. 5 9

ISSN:0956-1250    

DOI:10.1039/b102663c

出版商:RSC    

年代:2001

数据来源: RSC

摘要:

APPLICATION CAN BIOLOGICAL AGENTS BE SPRAYED LIKE CHEMICAL PESTICIDES? Introduction With the public perception that chemical pesticides leave residues in the crop produce they eat there has been increased interest in using biological controls and organic farming. Within the glasshouse environment release of parasitoids and predators has been very effective against certain pests but the situation is more difficult in arable and orchard situations where protection of high-yielding crops requires rapid deployment of effective control techniques when needed. Integrated crop management (ICM) endeavours to conserve natural enemies by more careful timing of sprays using more selective pesticides where possible and improving application techniques to minimise spray drift.Recent research has highlighted the potential for using biopesticides including fungi baculoviruses and entomopathogenic nematodes although production and formulation of these like chemical pesticides need rigorous quality control. Graham Matthews from the International Pesticide Application Research Centre (IPARC) at Silwood Park UK considers the application problems of biopesticides was with isolate IMI 330-189 (Bateman et al. 1996; Morley- Davies et al. 1996). By appropriate formulation utilising an oil carrier good control was obtained even at low humidities (Bateman et al. 1993). Most spray application systems are very inefficient in terms of spray distribution within crop canopies. Generally sprays are directed downward over a crop canopy so the majority of pesticide is deposited on the upper leaves and especially the upper surfaces of broad-leaved crops.Spray not captured on the top leaves is lost on the soil especially when spray volumes are increased and run-off occurs. Pests on the under surface of leaves are protected by the ‘umbrella’ of leaves. While a chemical pesticide may be re-distributed by dew or vapour action this does not apply to a particulate biopesticide. Thus to deposit spray on insects within the crop canopy spray nozzles need to be positioned within the interrow and directed laterally and upwards towards surfaces where the pest is feeding. When this is achieved a lower dose will be more effective than spraying over a crop (Javed and Matthews 2000).Equipment suitable for applying biopesticides is discussed by Bateman et al. (2000). Application options Although many pathogens have been considered as suitable biopesticides based on laboratory data under carefully controlled conditions relatively few have been developed as commercial products. Often the assumption has been that if they are to be accepted by growers they must work effectively through existing application equipment. A biopesticide does not however consist of inert particles and hence shear stresses when organisms are pumped through nozzles under pressure may be detrimental. Damage to spores can reduce their viability (Nilsson and Gripwall 1999) although some biological agents are remarkably robust. In some situations an innovative approach is needed to optimise delivery on surfaces where the pest will ingest the biopesticide although some will act solely by coming into direct contact with the pest.One example with the Rhinoceros beetle Oryctes rhinoceros is to immerse beetles caught in traps and releasing them so they spread the virus and infect females during mating (Bedford 1981). Similar techniques can be developed for other pests but there is still a need to adapt existing spraying methods. Commercial interest in biopesticides has focussed on pathogens that are relatively easy to mass culture but it is essential to determine what is the most appropriate organism and then choose the most active isolate. Metarhizium anisopliae var. acridum was chosen for the development of a mycoinsecticide for locust control although Beauveria bassiana was suggested.After initial laboratory screening with different isolates most of the subsequent development Pest ic ide Outlook – Apr i l 2001 This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry 2001 Dose transfer The concept of controlled droplet application (CDA) developed many years ago (Bals 1969) is particularly relevant to the application of biopesticides. Biopesticides are generally more expensive to produce compared with chemicals and hence delivery requires optimisation to avoid wastage. Conventional hydraulic nozzles produce droplets of a wide range of sizes with many droplets too small to contain sufficient of the biopesticide. This is particularly so with the larger entomopathogenic nematodes (Mason et al.1998). Large droplets transport too many spores or deposit too rapidly on the nearest horizontal surfaces. Jones (in Burges & Jones 1998) gives the number of organisms <10 mm that can be accommodated in droplets of different size. The dose of Metarhizium was optimised at 1–5 � 1012 conidia per litre with 70–100 mm droplets depending on the target species and speed of kill required. This enabled an adequate dosage to be deposited on locusts. Langewald et al. (1999) successfully applied 5 � 1012 spores in as little as 0.5 litre per hectare primarily against Oedaleus senegalensis. Similarly droplet size was optimised for collection in the trees when baculoviruses were applied against pine beauty moth on lodgepole pine in Scotland.The number of encounters between droplets and the larvae was more important than increasing the dose per droplet (Evans 60 DOI 10. 1 0 3 9 / b 1 0 2 6 5 9 n 1994). Thus in addition to optimising the droplet size it is crucial to deliver an appropriate number of droplets per unit area on the surfaces inhabited by the pest. This will ensure transfer of an adequate dose especially where ingestion of the bioinsecticide is essential. Formulation with a feeding stimulant may increase effectiveness of a biopesticide. In contrast to chemical pesticide the pathogen may be transferred to other insects (secondary recycling) that imparts a persistence factor. Relatively large droplets are required for entomopathogenic nematodes due to their size.So far most applications have been at high volume (>750 l ha–1) to soil e.g. Steinernema feltiae to control vine weevils (Otiorhynchus sulcatus) but some experimental studies have shown the potential for applying these nematodes to foliage. The addition of a certain polymer to reduce the effect of the carrier water evaporating from the spray deposit and avoiding rapid desiccation increases the effectiveness of the nematode. When compared with a hydraulic nozzle application similar control of Liriomyza brioniae was achieved with about 17% of the nematodes by using a modified CDA spinning disc sprayer (Piggott et al. 2000). Defence barriers Organisms have evolved natural barriers to protect themselves against infections and this has to be overcome by the spores of a mycopesticide.This is especially true with myco-herbicides as genetically diverse weed biotypes have some resistance to pathogens (Greaves et al. in Burges & Jones 1998). The complex leaf surfaces with waxy layers not only reduce water loss but also present a barrier to the pathogens. In laboratory tests a wetter often Tween 80 or Triton X-100 has been added to a mycopesticide to spread spores on leaf surfaces. Surfactants of biological origin are more likely to be suitable for applying biopesticides as many surfactants used with chemical pesticides are detrimental to organisms. Pesticides can be formulated in oil (Bals 1969) to enhance their activity and this has been shown to be true with some biopesticides such as Metarhizium anisopliae var.acridum. Sometimes it may be necessary to apply a biopesticide separately from another liquid or suspension that can affect the leaf surface and thus increase the entry of the biopesticide. Alternatively the sprays from each nozzle can be kept separate so that the biopesticide reaches the leaf surface at some interval later. Such a technique has yet to be used for a biopesticide but has been used tply a latex film to the soil surface to reduce evaporation. To overcome adverse effects due to UV light a biopesticide can be formulated with a sunscreen (Burges and Jones 1998). Discussion The success of relatively few biopesticides has been due to the lack of attention being given to the special requirements of a living organism.The development of Metarhizium against grasshoppers has undoubtedly been due to the very APPLICATION large international investment for a major research programme. Formulation and application technology formed a significant component of this research once the effectiveness of the selected isolate had been identified in the laboratory. It is hoped that similar efforts can be directed at other major pests but this will require multi-disciplinary teams funded for a sufficiently long period to overcome the production and application problems associated with biopesticides. The effort is needed as a major advantage of a biopesticide is its selectivity which enables other naturally occurring biological agents to complement their application for longerterm control.References Bals E. J. (1969). The principles of and new developments in ultra-low volume spraying. Proceedings of the 5th British Insecticide & Fungicide Conference. BCPC. Bateman R. P; Carey M.; Moore D.; Prior C. (1993) The enhanced infectivity of Metarhizium flavoviride in oil formulation to desert locusts at low humities. Annals of Applied Biology 122 145–152. Bateman R.; Carey M.; Batt D.; Prior C.; Abraham Y.; Moore D.; Jenkins N.; Fenlon J. (1996) Screening for virulent isolates of entomopathogenic fungi against the desert locust Schistocerca gregaria (Forskal). Biocontrol Science and Technology 6 549–560. Bateman R. P.; Matthews G. A. Hall F.R. (2000) Ground-based application equipment. In Lacey L.; Kaya H. (eds.) Field Manual of techniques in Invertebrate Pathology Kluwer Dordrecht. Bedford G. O. (1981) Control of the rhinoceros beetle by baculovirus In Burges H. D. (ed.) Microbial control of pests and plant diseases – 1970–1980. Academic Press. pp. 409–426. Burges H. D.; Jones K. A. (1998) Formulation of bacteria viruses and protozoa to control in insects In Burges H. D. (ed.) Formulation of Microbial Pesticides Beneficial microorganisms nematodes and seed treatments. Kluwer Dordrecht. pp. 33–127. Evans H. F. (1994) Laboratory and field results with viruses for the control of insects. BCPC Monograph 59 285–296. Javed M. A.; Matthews G. A. (2000) Influence of application techniques and spray deposition patterns for whitefly control.International Pest Management 42(6) 222–225. Langewald J.; Ouambama Z.; Mamadou A.; Peveling R.; Stolz I.; Bateman R.; Attignon S.; Blanford S; Arthurs S.; Lomer S. (1999) Comparison of an organophosphate insecticide with a mycoinsecticide for the control of Oedaleus senegalensis (Orthoptera Acrididae) and other sahelian grasshoppers at an operational scale. Biocontrol Science and Technology 9 199–214. Mason J. M.; Matthews G. A.; Wright D. J. (1998) Appraisal of spinning disc technology for application of entomopathogenic nematodes. Crop Protection 17 453–461. Morley-Davies J.; Moore D.; Prior C. (1996) Screening of Metarhizium and Beauveria spp. conidia with exposure to simulated sunlight and a range of temperatures. Mycological Research 100 31–38. Nilsson U.; Gripwall E. (1999) Influence of application technique on the viability of the biological control agents Verticillium lecanii and Steinernema feltiae. Crop Protection 18 53–59. Piggott S. J.; Clayton J. S.; Gwynn R. L.; Matthews G. A.; Sampson C.; Wright D. J. (2000) Improving foliar application technologies for entomopathogenic nematodes. Paper presented at COST meeting Dublin. 6 1 Pest ic ide Outlook – Apr i l 2001

ISSN:0956-1250    

DOI:10.1039/b102659n

出版商:RSC    

年代:2001

数据来源: RSC

摘要:

MEETING REPORT WEED SCIENCE SOCIETY OF AMERICA 2001 David J. Cole of Aventis reports from Greensboro North Carolina on the 41st Annual Meeting of the WSSA in February 2001 This year’s WSSA meeting was dominated by several contemporary themes centred around weed control in a changing world. Special symposia highlighted the problems of new invasive weeds potential gene flow arising from the introduction of biotechnologically derived crops and the changing way in which industry delivers products and information to its customers. These topics were consolidated in the general sessions in addition to the usual discussions on advances in understanding weed biology new product uses and complementary approaches to weed control. Predicting future invasive weeds Increases in world trade and changing trading methods coupled with enhanced awareness of the fragility of ecoystems and cropping systems has given rise to intense lobbying of the US Federal Government and the development of new legislation proposals and frameworks for both preventative and remedial action.In the USA one in seven non-native plant species are considered ‘invasive’ causing at least an estimated $122 bn economic harm per annum. A new federal Plant Protection Act consolidates previously disparate pest exclusion statutes while a National Invasive Species Council has recently been established (http://www.invasivespecies.gov). Special concerns about the rise in internet trading were conveyed by Stratford Kay of North Carolina State University.Almost every invasive exotic weed of concern particularly aquatic and wetland species is readily available from commercial or enthusiast websites which should therefore be subject to stricter regulation. What makes an invasive weed? The US Animal Plant and Health Inspection Service propose a numerical classification system although the features of recipient ecosystems need to be considered as well as the innate properties of the alien plants. Long Ashton’s Chris Parker working with WSSA and USDA is charged with the task of identifying future threats to the USA. Most of the USA’s current invasive weed problems could not have been predicted from many standard information sources which tend to focus on agronomic weeds. Most problem weeds are introduced intentionally i.e.are already in cultivation elsewhere. Gene flow and implications for weed management The ecological and management concerns thrown up by the widespread adoption of herbicide and pest-tolerant crops 62 Pest icide Outlo ok – Apri l 2001 This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry 2001 WSSA The Weed Science Society of America (WSSA) is an organization almost 50 years old with the mission of promoting development of weed science and technology for maximum benefit to efficient sustainable agriculture and natural resources with protection of humans wildlife soil water crops and our environment. It has approximately 2000 members many from outside North America. The WSSA sponsors a meeting annually in the U.S.or Canada in February attended by about 600–1000 delegates at which information is exchanged and technology transferred. The 2002 annu al meeting will be held at Reno Nevada. Two international peer-reviewed journals (Weed Science and Weed Technology) and a quarterly newsletter are published by WSSA. It also publishes other weed science-related publications such the a herbicide handbook and Andersen’s Guide to Practical Methods of Propogating Weeds & Other Plants. A new edition of the herbicide handbook will be available in the near future. More information on WSSA can be obtained at http://piked2.agn.uiuc.edu/wssa/ are 2-fold. Firstly the distance that pollen from a transgenic crop may travel and secondly the environmental ‘fitness’ of transgenic progeny resulting from hybridisation between a transgenic crop and related weed species.Several talks focussed on inter-specific gene flow in crops such as canola rice and sunflower. However it may be argued that by using contemporary tools such as crop-specific genetic markers and reporter transgenes such as Green Fluorescent Protein or herbicide tolerance genes these extensive studies in the main simply confirm basic breeding knowledge established decades ago by classical methods. More germane are considerations of fitness of weeds arising from outcrossing especially unpredicted effects resulting from the interaction of the transgene construct and trait with the host genetic background. Clearly more work is needed here. Outcrossing of transgenes could be minimised by targeting these to specific individual genomes of genetically complex crops which are not shared with related weedy species.This should be achievable for wheat to allow the control in North America of the recalcitrant Aegilops cylindrica by herbicides compatible with herbicide-tolerant crops. This is not the case for rice in relation to the genomically similar weed red rice (Oryza sativa). However hybridisation here is relatively low due to the synchronisa- DOI 10.1039/ b102658p tion of flowering needed between these two very shortflowering species although this does depend on rice variety. Molecular markers are powerful tools to understand variation in weeds underlying herbicide resistance and weediness traits.Interesting presentations were given by George Marshall (Scottish Agricultural College) on the molecular genetic characterisation of herbicide-resistant canary grass (Phalaris minor) in Indian wheat and by Brian Ottis (Texas A&M University) showing that genetic variation and crop relatedness among red rice accessions is much greater than hitherto thought. New developments from industry David Davis delivered an excellent account of BASF’s agronomy training programme for technical and sales representatives. An overriding message was the need to adopt mixed media for information delivery according to the needs and inclinations of the representatives harnessed to close monitoring. Thus while people are becoming more comfortable with web-based information this remains an extension to core content.Face-to-face contact and hard copy manuals will continue to have a central place but CDs are the least appreciated format. Continuing the information theme Alex Martin gave an update on the University of Nebraska’s ‘Weed SOFT’ weed management decision support system. The core module allows selection of weed control options for major crops based on biological and economic parameters; four hundred copies have been sold in the State mostly to advisors rather than directly to growers. It has also turned out to be a useful University teaching tool. New companion modules enable selection of treatments according to vulnerability to groundwater contamination within each county identified by colour-coded maps.Opportunities in the burgeoning generic herbicide market were identified by Jim Bone of Griffin LLC Georgia. Few herbicides leave the market because of lack of efficacy or value perception by the customer. In contrast to proprietary products the drive for generic sales is farmer perception rather than producer push. The recent increase in quality of products from third world manufacturers adds pressure on prices. Customer support for producer competition is another spur to generics. In 2001 over 50% of the US arable hectarage treated with herbicide will receive one or more of a parcel of major generic products. These features of the generic world are familiar enough at least to this observer from the embattled world of innovation-based industry! IN THE NEXT ISSUE The next issue of Pesticide Outlook will include an in-depth article on Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) by Denis Burges retired from Horticultural Research International (UK) and a renowned expert on Bt.MEETING REPORT Best of the rest New product information was thin on the ground. Syngenta’s mesotrione (Callisto™) triketone herbicide for broad leaf weed control in maize is being fast-tracked by EPA and registration is anticipated this year. BASF’s Clearfield™ system for weed control based on imidazolinone-tolerant crops should be extended into US rice and wheat next year and in sunflower in 2003. This should afford control of some key problem grass weeds especially in the cereals and the need for careful product stewardship to minimise acquired weed resistance was acknowledged.Fine work from Chris Preston’s Adelaide group has thrown new light on mechanisms of acquired resistance in weeds. Debbie Lorraine-Colwill showed that an accession of Lolium rigidum (rigid ryegrass) resistant to glyphosate is associated with an increased propensity to transport glyphosate away from roots to the leaf tip where it accumulates. She postulated that the herbicide is pumped actively into the apoplast so compartmenting it away from the molecular target site. This seminal work suggests a molecular mechanism of resistance distinctly different from that to other major herbicides. Inheritance studies at the University of Delaware have confirmed acquired resistance to glyphosate in Conyza canadensis (horse weed) in weed control failures found last year in local soybean fields treated for three years with glyphosate as a sole herbicide.The message is therefore clear – this valuable product must be safeguarded by judicious selection of cropping and alternative/complementary herbicide regimes. In the Physiology section Franck Dayan of USDA reported the properties of the lichen metabolite usnic acid as a powerful inhibitor of plant hydroxyphenylpyruvate dioxygenase action reminding us of the potential of natural products to inspire new herbicide products. Good work by Dean Riechers at the University of Illinois and Mike Barrett at the University of Kentucky has pinpointed regulatory DNA elements which may mediate the safener-induction of herbicide degradation enzymes in crops. This may lead us to new molecular tools to assist discovery of future herbicide safeners. David Cole is with Aventis CropScience’s herbicide discovery team at Ongar Research Station Essex UK 6 3 Pest ic ide Outl ook – Apr i l 2001

ISSN:0956-1250    

DOI:10.1039/b102658p

出版商:RSC    

年代:2001

数据来源: RSC