Use of Baculovirus to control fall armyworm, Spodoptera fmgiperda, in Brazil

摘要

Fall armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda, is the most important insect pest of corn in Brazil. Its control is essentially with chemical insecticides, but microbial pesticides may become a viable alternative. Among the insect pathogens, nucleopolyhedrovirus (NPV) is an option, and such baculoviruses can be very effective in the field control of fall armyworm. Advantages include no pollution of the environment or water and lack of adverse effects on natural enemies. However, two major problems have limitedthe large scale production of baculoviruses to control fall armyworm. First, fall armyworm is cannibalistic, so these insects have to be individualized, resulting in a lot of intensive lab work, a higher risk for contamination, and a high cost of the biopesticide. Secondly, baculoviruses that infect fall armyworm have the unique characteristic of disrupting the integument as soon as the larvae are dead. Cathepsin and chitinase genes are responsible for this. This makes production laborious and expensive, because larvae must be frozen and quickly harvested. Because a large quantity of the internal liquid containing the baculoviruses is lost, more larvae are needed to produce each dose sprayed. The objective of this work was to improve the large scale production of baculoviras biopesticides using one baculovirus isolate (isolate 6) that was found not to disrupt the integument.