Development of an Encapsulated Prill Formulation of Gliocladium virens Miller, Giddens & Foster

摘要

Formulation and application methods are often of paramount importance in biological control (Papavizas and Lumsden, 1980; Papavizas and Lewis, 1983; Papavizas et al., 1984). Accordingly several techniques viz, antagonist in liquid (Kerr, 1980), organic matter (Wells et al., 1972), as seed treatment (Har-men et al, 1980; Windel, 1981; Fravel et al., 1985) and in vermiculite or in clay such as pyrax (Fravel et al., 1983) have been tested. Reports of the incorporation of mycoherbicides into sodium alginate suggested that this method may have potential for use with biocontrol fungi (Walker and Connick, 1983). The resulting granular preparation is not only lighter in weight than liquid but also the granules are more uniform and less bulky than most organic matter preparation. The reaction between aqueous solution of sodium alginate and metal cation Ca~(++) to form gels (Kondo, 1979) has been used to formulate myco-and chemical herbicide (Barrette, 1978; Connick, 1982; Walker and Connick, 1983). Bentonite is normally added as bulking agent. The method produces bio-degradable prills of relatively uniform size. The prills were found convenient for storage and compatible with commonly used agriculture machinery.