Fighting locusts with fungi

A major research programme to develop fungi as biological pesticides is under way at CAB International's Institute of Biological Control. A total of UKL25 million is being provided by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), the Netherlands' Directorate General for Development Cooperation, the UK's Overseas Development Administration (ODA) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). Over a period of three years, research will be conducted to assess fungal biological control agents for use against locusts and grasshoppers and to develop them to the field testing and monitoring stage. Beauveria and Metarhizium are two fungi known to attack locusts. Those strains being studied by CIBC are non-persistent and affect the insect directly. They then penetrate the cuticle, multiply inside the insect and kill it. These fungi show specificity to their hosts so that there is no risk of spread to nontarget organisms or predators of the locust. It is thought that the fungi may be used directly to control swarms of adult locusts, using existing tracking systems and the infrastructure built up for chemical control. It is a solution which is cheaper than the use of chemicals, and certainly safer. Spores are easy to store and stay Dr Chris Prior CABI Institute of Biological Control Silwood Park Buckhurst Road Ascot Berks SL5 7TA UK

Bibliographic Details

Main Author:	Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation
Format:	News Item biblioteca
Language:	English
Published:	Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation 1990
Online Access:	https://hdl.handle.net/10568/45364 http://collections.infocollections.org/ukedu/en/d/Jcta29e/
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