Announcements Are you producing a newsletter, holding a meeting, running an organization or rearing a natural enemy that you want other biocontrol workers to know about? Send us the details and we will announce it in BNI. Whitefly Symposium The First European Whitefly Symposium will be held in Sicily on 24 February - 4 March 2001, and will be organized by the European Whitefly Studies Network (EWSN) and hosted by the University of Catania. The symposium will cover the following disciplines: Faunistic & Systematics, Virology, Epidemiology, Natural Enemies and Pest Management. Although the symposium will have a European focus, it will also incorporate complementary work from elsewhere in the world. It is also proposed that a comprehensive poster session is incorporated within the symposium. Contact: David Oliver An international short course on `Agroecology, Integrated Pest Management (IPM) and Sustainable Agriculture will be held at Michigan State University on 18-30 June 2000. This multi-disciplinary course will cover: concepts and principles of agroecology, IPM and sustainable agriculture; ecological opportunities in agricultural productivity: insects, pathogens, weeds, nutrients, soil and water; agronomic opportunities in agricultural productivity: agroecosystem design and systems integration, and environmental consequences of various systems; new horizons in agriculture: biotechnological approaches to agricultural production, ecologically based pest and nutrient management, and social concepts; integrated natural resource management, including soil, water and biodiversity management; extension strategies, and the adoption and acceptance of new technology; information and training resources in agroecology, IPM and sustainable agriculture; and field visits to agricultural research stations and innovative farmers' sites. Registration is US$250 and the course fee (includes instruction fee, information packages, local travel, meals and lodging) is $2750. The application deadline is 15 May 2000. Contact: Dr K. M. Maredia, The sixth annual report of the Project Directorate of Biological Control in Bangalore1 (PDBC) provides information on biological research work done by PDBC and its 16 coordinating centres spread over different parts of India during the period April 1998 - March 1999. In a busy year for the insect rearing staff, 63 cultures of host insect and 108 cultures of natural enemies were sent to coordinating centres for trials. The subabul psyllid predator Curinus coeruleus was multiplied using the mealybug Ferrisia virgata as host in addition to the psyllid, Heteropsylla cubana. Similarly, the mealybug predator Brumoides suturalis was also reared on F. virgata in the laboratory. Progress was made with developing artificial diets for natural enemies: a de-fatted soyabean diet proved effective for rearing Chrysoperla carnea and Cardiastethus exiguus, and a liver-based diet was successful for Cryptolaemus montrouzieri. A wheat bran-based formulation of Trichoderma harzianum PDBCTH 10 was found effective against chickpea root rot and wilt, Rhizoctonia solani, in both greenhouse and field trials. Seed treatment with Gliocladium virens alone or in combination with Vitavax was found highly effective against damping off and seedling rot of soyabean. Pseudomonas putida PDBCAB 19 and P. fluorescens PDBCAB2, PDBCAB29 and PDBCAB30 were identified as potential antagonists of Macrophomina, Sclerotium, Rhizoctonia, Botrytis cinerea and Fusarium oxysporum. Different media were evaluated for mass production of the entomophilic nematodes Steinernema spp. and Heterorhabditis spp. Larvae reared on artificial diet yielded more infective juveniles in Spodoptera litura than larvae reared on castor and tomato. Surveys were undertaken for Parthenium diseases in Bangalore. Fusarium pallidoroseum, a leaf spotting pathogen, showed most potential for development as a mycoherbicide against Parthenium; all growth stages of Parthenium were susceptible to the fungus, and preliminary host testing found that a number of crops, including sunflower cultivars, were not susceptible.. PDBC has developed an extensive portfolio of biocontrol-based technologies for pest management in a wide variety of crops including sugarcane, cotton, maize, tobacco, vegetables and fruit. The information system, PDBC-INFOBASE has been developed to help a wide range of people including farmers, extension workers, those in industry, entomologists, biocontrol experts, students, teachers, research managers and planners. The user-friendly, menu-driven self-explanatory software gives information on biological control resources in the country. Another useful title in PDBC's series of checklists, an annotated checklist of the coccinellid fauna of India was produced. The checklist (excluding Epilachninae) includes the faunal composition, valid name + synonyms, type depository, distribution and selected bibliography for all taxa. In all, 65 species from 29 genera, nine tribes and five subfamilies are dealt with. The adoption of biocontrol technologies for a pollution-free environment requires the development of a critical mass of trained scientific manpower in different agricultural universities, ICAR (Indian Council of Agricultural Research) institutes, other scientific organizations and private industry. With this objective, the Directorate has attempted to compile a directory of experts2 who could promote guidance on different aspects of biological control, particularly for setting up biofactories, educational facilities, research initiatives, and management of pest and diseases by incorporating biocontrol into a viable green alternative to pest control. This is a beginning and efforts shall further be made to involve many other agencies for a broader consensus for the coming millennium. 1Project Directorate of Biological Control (1999) Annual Report 1998-99. Bangalore, India; PDBC, 218 pp. 2Hussaini, S.S. (ed) (1999) Biocontrol Consultants. Bangalore, India; PDBC, Dr S.P. Singh, 59 pp. Free of charge. These publications are
available from: Scarab beetles provide us with some of our most intractable insect pest problems as soil-inhabiting root or stem feeders. This diverse group can be a threat to agriculture, horticulture and forestry in tropical and temperate regions. Research groups from around the world have developed non-chemical control measures currently ranging from hand-collecting and soil cultivation to microbial control. The Scarab Biocontrol Network has the objective of facilitating cooperation between scarab biocontrol researchers to meet the increasing threat posed by scarab pests. The network aims to identify and link science teams working in this area, provide information on biocontrol projects and identify background resources to underpin this research. One of the functions of the Network is production of Scarab Biocontrol News, edited by Trevor Jackson. SBN is an informative bi-annual newsletter, with substantial news stories from around the world, as well as traditional newsletter items of meeting reports, an events calendar and a list of recent scarab-related publications. For details of either the
network or the newsletter, contact: Trevor Jackson, |
