Biocontrol News and Information

December 2001, Volume 22 No. 4

• Editorial
• General News
• IPM Systems
• Training News
• Announcements
• Conference Reports
• New Books
• Proceedings

Conference Reports

The VII Symposium on Biological Control (VII Siconbiol) was held in Poços de Caldas, State of Minas Gerais, Brazil on 3-7 June 2001. The meeting was attended by 530 registered participants and invited speakers.

The Symposium benefited from the participation of specialists from Belgium, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, the USA, Finland, France, Holland, the UK, Israel and Italy who contributed with Brazilian experts to the success of the event, demonstrating once more that the symposia on biological control are recognized by the scientific community as the best forum for discussion of the many aspects of biological control.

There were eight conferences, and 24 plenary sections organized within the established themes:

1.Ecology and biological control (tritrophic interactions, plant diversity and biological control, weeds and insecticides, endophytic microorganisms).

Strategies used to preserve native and/or introduced natural enemies in agroecosystems were discussed. Supplementary food sources, refuges and/or adoption of crop management tactics which guarantee more ecological stability in the crop area are considered key factors in biological control programmes and for the preservation of biocontrol agents.

2.Taxonomic identification and selection of natural enemies (predators, parasitoids and insect pathogens).

The correct taxonomic identification of a biocontrol agent is of great importance since its scientific name is key to providing correct information on its morphology, biology, behaviour and potential harm for human health. Improving identification techniques and developing methods based on phylogenetic studies and direct analysis of DNA will lead to better precision in identifications, increasing the probability of success in efficient natural enemy selection.

3.Attributes of a good natural enemy (predators, parasitoids and insect pathogens).

Specific attributes are of great importance for using entomophagous and pathogenic organisms in an economic and efficient way, and similarly as biocontrol agents for weeds and as antagonists for the biological control of plant diseases. Biocontrol of human and domestic animal diseases requires agents with special characteristics, given the nature of the problem. New knowledge on the ecology and biology of these organisms will allow the identification of new desirable characteristics for a good biological control agent.

4.Improving the efficiency of natural enemies (increment factors in biological control, insect pathogens in agriculture and in vector insect control).

Natural enemies (predators, parasi-toids, insect pathogens or antagonists) have characteristics which make them specific or generalist, enzootic or epizootic agents of control, which indicates strategies for their use in inoculative or inundative releases, and conservation and augmentation among other uses. These characteristics can be manipulated to favour their utilization as biocontrol agents. Techniques for breeding better natural enemies were discussed, covering more conventional to more advanced techniques, such as the use of the rDNA.

5. Commercial production of biocontrol agents (entomophages, biological control and pheromones in agribusiness, insect pathogens).

Modern agriculture causes severe problems in environmental and human health and leads to a dramatic reduction in biodiversity, as a result of intense and frequent utilization of pesticides. In this section, analyses were presented of incentives and perspectives for the commercial-ization of biological control in Brazil in the light of similar initiatives in other countries.

6. Quality control of natural enemies (entomophages and insect pathogens)

Rearing and producing natural enemies under laboratory conditions can alter the performance of such organisms, resulting in failures in biological control. Care in selection criteria and attention to rearing methodologies are important to guarantee the quality of the product. Quality control is of great importance for assuring the performance of predators, parasitoids and pathogenic organisms, and assuring their efficiency in the target organism.

7. Risk analysis and environmental impact in the introduction of natural enemies (legislation, biological con-trol and genetically modified organisms, classic biological control)

The introduction of biological control agents in a particular ecosystem alters its composition and has a not well-understood impact. The importance of risk analysis and environmental impact evaluation has been increasingly recognised as an indispensable procedure to assure a sustainable agriculture.

8. Cases of success in biological control (agricultural, urban and forest ecosystems)

Biological control should not be considered a unique and isolated method, but as one tool in a group of strategies of management. The success of the establishment of a native or exotic natural enemy or the efficiency of a pathogen in pest control are therefore dependent on several factors: biotic, abiotic, cultural and social. Biological control programmes established as standard practice in pest control were discussed in this section.

In addition, 430 papers covering establish-ed themes were presented in poster sessions over the 4-day event.

Two sets of abstracts were produced:

• Abstracts book/Livro de resumos. VII Simpósio de Controle Biológico, Poços de Caldas, MG, Brazil, 3-7 June 2001, 472pp. This contains abstracts of papers presented in the poster sections, without the texts of the conferences.
• CD-ROM - Simpósio de Controle Biológico. VII Simpósio de Controle Biológico, Poços de Caldas, MG, Brazil, 3-7 June 2001. This contains the abstracts of the papers presented in the poster sections, together with the texts of the conferences.

The success of VII Siconbiol was the result of the united efforts of many people, universities, research institutions, development agencies, scientific societies and private initiative, which in direct or indirect ways contributed for the realization of the event, and to whom the Organizing Committee expresses its gratitude.

By: Vanda Helena Paes Bueno,
President, VII Siconbiol

The Society for the Advancement of Biological Control, Bangalore, and the Indian Society for the Advancement of Insect Science organised a Symposium on 'Biocontrol Based Pest Management for Quality Crop Protection in the Current Millennium', which was held at Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), Ludhiana on 18-19 July 2001. [See Proceedings section, this issue.]

Dr S. P. Singh, Project Directorate of Biological Control (PDBC), Bangalore, welcomed the delegates and gave a brief account of advances in biological control in India. Padma Bhushan Dr Rajindra Singh Paroda, Secretary, Department of Agricultural Research and Education and Director General, Indian Council of Agricultural Research, New Delhi, inaugurated the symposium and delivered the inaugural address: 'Relevance of biocontrol in the current agricultural scenario in India.' Padma Bhushan Professor Virender L. Chopra, National Professor, delivered a special lecture on 'Biotechnological approaches to biological control of crop pests.' Dr Kirpal Singh Aulakh, Vice Chancellor, PAU, Ludhiana, presided over the function. Dr Darshan Singh, Professor and Head, Department of Entomology, PAU, Ludhiana, proposed a vote of thanks.

There were 200 participants from India, Kenya, the UK, Australia, Thailand, the Philippines and Japan. Eighteen invited papers were presented in three different sessions over two days. Lead papers were presented on: Innovations in mass rearing technology and techniques for mass releases, transportation and storage of natural enemies (S. P. Singh); Bio-intensive management of cereal stemborers in Africa: exploiting chemical ecology and natural enemies in a 'push-pull' strategy (Z. R. Khan); New approaches in maximizing the effectiveness of natural enemies (D. N. Yadav); Tritrophic interactions amongst host plants, insect pests and their natural enemies (A. J. Tamhankar & K. Shan-tharam); Augmentation biocontrol: recent progress and emerging opportunities (S. Sithanantham & N. K. Maniania); Innovations in mass production of microbial agents for the control of insect pests (V. M. Pawar, U. T. Thombre & P. S. Borikar); Biotechnological approaches in increasing effectiveness of microbial agents (R. J. Rabindra, J. S. Kennedy, N. Sathiah & B. Rajasekaran); Biological control of plant pathogens - an application of natural control (A. N. Mukhopadhyay); Integration of biocontrol with chemical and non-chemical methods of pest management (Banpot Napompeth); Transgenics in insect pest management (D. S. Brar & G. S. Khush); Development and use of heat and insecticide tolerant strains of natural enemies in IPM (J. Singh, K. S. Brar & J. P. Singh); Biocontrol of weeds using pathogens: recent advances (Carol A. Ellison & H. C. Evans); Bt-cotton to combat bollworms: its development and current status (T. M. Manjunath & K. S. Mohan); Recent developments in biocontrol of weeds using insects (Rachel E. Cruttwell McFadyen); Role of cultural practices in improving the abundance and efficiency of natural enemies (M. V. Potdar & A. K. Kakkar); Development of RAPD PCR (V. K. Dilawari); Importance of quality control in commercial production of biocontrol agents (K. P. Jayanth); and Pheromones as a tool for IPM (Kinya Ogawa & Toshimi Kobayashi).

There were three poster sessions in which more than 170 papers were presented. The papers presented by Dr S. Ramani, Dr S. S. Hussaini and Dr (Mrs) C. R. Ballal, all from PDBC, Bangalore, took the best poster paper awards for the three sessions.

The Symposium came up with 20 recommendations in three areas. Areas recommended for targeting in research were:

1. Strengthening national capacity for utilizing molecular tools together with conventional taxonomic tools in characterizing and mapping the diversity of native biocontrol agents.
2. Intensification of software development for identification and databases.
3. Exploration of additional opportun-ities for selective deployment of biocontrol agents that perform more effectively in important crop targets.
4. Intensification of work on evolving superior strains of parasitoids and predators which would perform better in field conditions.
5. Identification and utilization of manipulative practices that enhance the efficacy of promising biocontrol agents.
6. Creation of a National Repository for potential bioagents.
7. Development of inter-disciplinary and international collaboration in selected themes including biosystematics, native diversity characterization, gene banks, habitat management, tritrophic interactions and quality monitoring.
8. Strengthening of research strategies to promote in vitro production techniques of biocontrol agents to enhance the capacity to produce and enable the commercial production of these agents.
9. Increased emphasis on genetic improvement, utilization, commercial production and popularization of viral, fungal and bacterial pathogens, fungal and bacterial antagonists and entomopathogenic nematodes in biological control.
10. Establish and standardize quality control parameters for biocontrol agents to enable quality control checks necessary in production, sale and use of biocontrol agents.
11. Development of protocols for non-target risk assessment.

Policy areas recommended for development were:

12. The constitution of focused working groups and experts' panels for visualizing future thrusts and developing appropriate vision documents and concept notes for inter-institutional cooperation including stakeholder participation and popularization of the technology for biocontrol.

13.Initiatives to further promote policy support, encourage private enterprise and simplify the product registration as well as quality control guidelines of bioagents.

14. Enforcement of quality control checks necessary in production, sale and use of biocontrol agents.

15. Registration and licensing of biocontrol producing individuals and organizations in the government and private sectors.

16. Designation of quality control laboratories for biological control.

17. Policy on registration of pesticides that are ecofriendly and safe to natural enemies, including provision of re-registration after evaluating their performance.

18. Strengthening of human resource development (HRD) and transfer of technology mechanisms.

Development issues recommended for addressing were:

19. To intensify awareness programmes among the farmers about the benefits of use of natural enemies and availability of resources.

20. Country-wide networking to disseminate information on biological control.

The above recommendations may be adopted as appropriate by different organizations such as the Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Commerce, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Department of Agriculture and Cooperation, Department of Agricultural Research and Education, Indian Council of Agricultural Research, Department of Biotechnology, Department of Science and Technology, Department of Environment and Forests, Directorate of Plant Protection, Quarantine and Storage, University Grants Commission, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, state agricultural universities, state departments of agriculture, state departments of horticulture, etc.

Indian Biocontrol Workers' Group Meeting

The 10th Biocontrol Workers' Group Meeting was held at Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana on 20-21 July 2001 (under the aegis of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), New Delhi). Around 60 delegates representing ICAR, New Delhi, ICAR institutes, state agricultural universities and other invitees participated. The members presented work done in the year 2000-01 on various aspects relating to biological control of crop pests and weeds. The workshop then held technical sessions. The technical programme was formulated for the years 2002-03 and 2003-04 in the final session.

By: Dr S. P. Singh,
Project Director,
Project Directorate of Biological Control (ICAR),
P.B. No. 2491, H. A. Farm Post,
Hebbal, Bellary Road,
Bangalore 560 024,
Karnataka, India
Email: pdblc@kar.nic.in/drspsingh@valise.com
Fax: +91 80 3411961

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