Biological-Based Crop Protection aims to develop sustainable, biologically-based, crop management technologies that utilise naturally-occurring pathogens and phytotoxins to control economically important insect and nematode pests. The team provides policy and registration guidance to Governments and other stakeholders through consultancies, and builds capacity through training and knowledge management. The team advocates sustainable technology transfer to both public and private sectors in support of resource-poor farming communities.

Achievements

Achievements include: new NPV formulation validated for control of African armyworm, and mass-production techniques developed; registration guidelines on microbial biopesticides and biochemical pesticides developed for the Ghanaian Environmental Protection Agency; isolation and identification of novel pathogens for control of African maize stem borers; and assessment of efficacy of combinations of antagonistic fungus, rhizobacteria and marigold to improve control of root-knot nematode in an integrated crop management strategy for tomato in South Asia. Novel evidence relevant to biopesticide usage has shown that Bacillus thuringiensis can have a dynamic, vegetative existence on the phylloplane which includes genetic transfer.

Future Plans

Our strategy is to continue to provide donors, government agencies and SMEs with high-quality research-informed technical and policy support for commercial exploitation of biological-control products for crop pest management; develop international partnerships in research to improve methodologies for production, formulation and application of biological-control agents, so that small producers can access the technology for local production and application; and develop biorational techniques as component technologies in novel integrated crop management strategies to meet the needs of resource-poor farming communities. These actions will build on initiatives developed through projects on chickpea, tomato and brassicas in South Asia, and maize and vegetables in Africa.

Staff

Prof Alan Cork
Prof John Colvin
Dr Alistair Bishop
Dr Andy Cherry
Dave Grzywacz

Recent Publications

Bishop,A.H., Gowen, S.R., Pembroke, B., Trotter, J.R. (2007). Morphological and molecular characteristics of a new species of Pasteuria parasitic on Meloidogyne ardenensis. Journal of Invertebrate Pathology

Bizzarri M.F. and. Bishop A.H. (2007). The ecology of Bacillus thuringiensis on the phylloplane: colonisation from soil, plasmid transfer and interaction with larvae of Pieris brassicae. Microbial Ecology

Bizzarri M.F.,. Bishop A.H, Dinsdale A. and Logan N.A. Changes in the properties of Bacillus thuringiensis after prolonged culture in a rich medium. Journal of Applied Microbiology (in press).

Bizzarri, M.F. and Bishop, A.H. (2007). Recovery of Bacillus thuringiensis in vegetative form from the phylloplane of clover (Trifolium hybridum) during a growing season. Journal of Invertebrate Pathology 94 (1)(2007): 38-47.

Cherry, A.J., Abalo, P. and Hell, K. Farm-scale trials to compare the entomopathogenic fungus Beauveria bassiana with pirimiphos methyl + deltamethrin and essential oil of lemon grass for protection of stored cowpea against Callosobruchus maculatus (Coleoptera: Bruchidae). Annals of Applied Biology (in press).

Cork A., De Souza, K., Hall, D.R., Jones, O.T., Casagrande, E., Krishnaiah, K. and Zainulabeuddin, S. (2007). Development of PVC-resin controlled release formulation for pheromones and use in mating disruption of yellow rice stem borer, Scirpophaga incertulas. Crop Protection

Cork, A. & Hall, M. J. R. (2007) Development of an odour-baited target for female New World Screwworm, Cochliomyia hominivorax (Diptera: Calliphoridae): Studies with host baits and synthetic wound fluids. Medical and Veterinary Entomology 21: 1-8.

Coulibaly,O.; Cherry,A.J.; Nouhoheflin,T.; Aitchedji,C.C.; Al-Hassan,R. Vegetable Producer Perceptions and Willingness to Pay for Biopesticides. Journal of Vegetable Science (in press).

Grzywacz, D., Mushobozi,W M., ,Parnell, M., Jolliffe, F., and Wilson K., Evaluation of Spodoptera exempta nucleopolyhedrovirus (SpexNPV) for the field control of African Armyworm (Spodoptera exempta) in Tanzania. Crop Protection (in press)

Hall, D. R., Cork, A., Phythian, S. J., Chittamura, S., Jayarama, B. K., Venkatesha, M. G., Sreedham, K., Kumar, P. K. V., Seetharama, H. G. & Naidu, R. (2006) Identification of components of male-produced pheromone of coffee white stemborer, Xylotrechus quadripes. Journal of Chemical Ecology 32: 195-219

M.F. Bizzarri, A. Prabhakar, A.H. Bishop. (2007). Multiple-Locus sequence typing analysis of Bacillus thuringiensis recovered from the phylloplane of clover (Trifolium hybridum) in vegetative form. Microbial Ecology

Natarajan, N., Cork, A., Boomathi1, N., Pandi, R., Velavan, S. and Dhakshnamoorthy, G. (2006) Cold aqueous extracts of African marigold, Tagetes erecta for control tomato root knot nematode, Meloidogyne incognita. Crop Protection 25: 1210-1213.