For control of Lobesia botrana: researchers at INIA La Platina seek to generate a bioinsumption as a sustainable alternative for environmental care
Santiago, 23 of April of 2019.- One of the main plagues that threatens the food export offer in Chile is the Lobesia botrana and to combat it, it is common for producers to resort to the use of pesticides that are not very friendly to the environment, because there are no sustainable alternatives in the market to help them cope.
Alerted by this situation, a group of researchers from INIA La Platina led by the doctor in Biotechnology, Eduardo Tapia, is developing two years ago a project that seeks to generate a biopesticide based on entomopathogenic fungi for biocontrol and / or integrated management of Lobesia botrana on vines.
The initiative has the collaboration of the Agricultural and Livestock Service (SAG) and the support of the Foundation for Agrarian Innovation (FIA), all agencies dependent on the Ministry of Agriculture, which seek to obtain a sustainable technique for its management and / or control.
"This responds to a global trend to opt for more sustainable technologies. INIA is one of the pioneers at the national level in working in this field, even more than 20 years ago in the south and in the central zone of Chile has worked in Biological Control, either with arthropods or with microorganisms, "said Tapia .
Along these lines, the INIA researcher added that this quarantine plague has a high mobility in Chile, because it is located from the Atacama region to La Araucanía, and if it is not controlled in time it can generate losses in the fields and even market closures for grapevine exports. For this reason, to face it, for many years different strains of these entomopathogenic fungi have been investigated, with the aim of combating it in a sustainable way, that is, reducing the use of chemical products, explained the specialist.
In this seminar they shared the progress generated during the first two years of the project, highlighting in a special way the results of the first season of evaluation in terrero of the product, which has been done together with the farmers.
"We told how we did it, we generated, evaluated and selected the mushrooms, and the methodologies used. So we generated a debate and an interesting discussion among the attendees, because we received the feedback of the agro. Also, we show the field evaluations that were quite good. The good thing about this exercise is that people from the academy and companies attended, who also gave us their feedback on whether or not the product seems to them. Remember that it is biological, it does not have the efficacy as the chemicals close to the 100%. This goes between the 50, 60 or 70% in a peak at best, since it is part of integrated management, "said Tapia.
Another of the points addressed by Dr. Tapia was the 2020 year goal of the project, which aims to generate a bioinsumption, intellectually protected by INIA, which is available to all farmers.
Meanwhile, the deputy director of FIA, Rodolfo Campos, pointed out that “as a Foundation we believe that innovation is key in this area of agriculture and in the context of climate change. This is a pest that can represent regulations to the trade of our fruit and with this project, quite auspicious results have been achieved to date. The way to deal with Lobesia botrana must be with sustainable methods, such as this biopesticide that hopes to be a great support for the sector ”.
While the person in charge of the National Program of Lobesia botrana (PNLb) of SAG, Álvaro Garrido, said that it is essential to have new tools to combat this plague. "Bearing in mind that the efforts of all sectors are on the same line, what the research work table has done is especially relevant, where representatives of the public and private world have come together to look for innovative alternatives such as this, where has advanced in the development of a biopesticide based on entomopathogenic fungi for the integrated management of the moth. The issue of sustainability is something we should not ignore; and that this is a way to control the plague, but in a friendly way with the environment, is to take a step further ".
Information on the project was delivered in the framework of the second seminar on the progress of the project's results "Development of a biopesticide based on entomopathogenic fungi for biocontrol and / or integrated management of Lobesia botrana in vines as a sustainable alternative in climate change ".
The activity carried out in a downtown hotel in the municipality of Providencia was attended by more than 100 representatives from the sector.
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