Bringing biologicals to row crops is certainly a goal for the industry. The European Biocomes project which links 13 industrials partners and 14 research institutes, is a good example of added value brought by a consortium coordinated by Wageningen University in the Netherlands. Jurgen Kohl, who leads Biocomes, recalls that Biocomes started in 2013 and that the results will be presented by the end of this year. The consortium concentrated on 11 main pests and diseases in arable crops, vegetable, fruits and forestry. In preview for ABIM, three results were revealed for new BCAs. Massimo Benuzzi (CBC Europe) pointed out that the cooperation with other companies was interesting to build the development of a seed treatment with Trichoderma harzanium onmaize. Daniel Zingg (Andermatt Biocontrol) reported that Biocomes was a success story, allowing him to develop and register a virus-based product against tomato pest Tuta absoluta. Ralf-Udo Ehlers (E-nema), introduced with the support of Biocomes a genetic technology to produce a new strain of bionemati-cide against maize worm Diabrotica.
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