1. Integrated Pest Management and Biocontrol
Biotechnology

2. What is IPM?
"Integrated Pest Management (IPM) is a sustainable approach to managing pests by combining biological, cultural, physical and chemical tools in a way that minimizes economic, health and environmental risks."

3. Reasons for IPM
Chemical pesticides can impact the human health and ecosystems
Example: DDT, a pesticide, can accumulate in the fatty tissue of animals and affect bird reproduction
Insects can become resistant to chemical pesticides
Approximately 500 species of insects are resistant to one or more pesticides

4. How does IPM work? Mechanical Biological Chemical
Reduces the amount of chemical pesticides by:
Mechanical
Limits the pest's access to food, water and harborage sites
Example – Japanese beetle traps
Biological
Introduction of a natural enemy of the pest
Example – Lady bugs feed on aphids and can be Introduced to reduce the aphid population on crops
Chemical
Pesticide applications that have minimal risks associated with their use
Using the least amount of chemicals that will still be effective

5. What is Biological Control?
Core 218: Biotechnology and Society, Spring 2007
Lectures 27-28
What is Biological Control?
Pest suppression with biological agents operating in a background of integrated control that does not depend on
host resistance,
sterilization of the target pathogen, or
modification of pest behaviour
Is Biological Control Biotechnology?
Of course it is!

6. Biocontrol Control of plant pathogens with other microbes
A biological control agent is known as an antagonist
Antagonism is general name for mechanisms of biological control

8. Biological Control Involves
Core 218: Biotechnology and Society, Spring 2007
Lectures 27-28
Biological Control Involves
Destruction of the propagative units or biomass of the pathogen.
Weakening or displacement of the pathogen in infested residue.
Reduction of vigour or virulence of the pathogen by agents such as mycoviruses.

9. Biological Control Agents
Core 218: Biotechnology and Society, Spring 2007
Lectures 27-28
Biological Control Agents
Microorganisms
Bacteria
Fungi
Nematodes
Viruses
Macroorganisms
Insects
Man
Animals

10. Biological Control Mechanisms
Core 218: Biotechnology and Society, Spring 2007
Lectures 27-28
Biological Control Mechanisms
Competition – the BC agent more efficiently utilizes space and nutrients.
Antibiosis – the BC agent produces one or more deleterious compounds.
Parasitism – the BC agent utilizes the target for food or for reproduction.
Induced resistance – the BC agent indirectly stimulates the plant to be resistant.

11. How are Biological Agents Applied?
Core 218: Biotechnology and Society, Spring 2007
Lectures 27-28
How are Biological Agents Applied?
Importation
Augmentation
Conservation of Natural Enemies

12. Core 218: Biotechnology and Society, Spring 2007
Lectures 27-28
Importation
When the pathogen is exotic.
Identify origin of pathogen or pest.
Search for natural enemies
Get USDA permission to import
The alfalfa weevil is the most important insect pest of alfalfa
Adult Bathyplectes anurus , a parasitoid of alfalfa weevil larvae.
Damaged Alfalfa
Adult weevil
Larvae
Bathyplectes wasp

13. Core 218: Biotechnology and Society, Spring 2007
Lectures 27-28
Augmentation
Augmentation is the direct manipulation of natural enemies to increase their effectiveness.
Mass production and periodic release (colonization) is the most common approach.
Genetic enhancement
Augmentation is not permanent, and requires reapplication of the agent.

14. Core 218: Biotechnology and Society, Spring 2007
Lectures 27-28
Conservation
Conservation is the identification and modification of any number of factors to increase the effectiveness of natural enemies.

15. Biological Control Targets
Core 218: Biotechnology and Society, Spring 2007
Lectures 27-28
Biological Control Targets
Agents that cause plant disease
Agents that cause plant damage
Weeds:
Any plant that is growing where it is not wanted

16. Biopesticides
Pesticides derived from such natural materials as animals, plants, bacteria, and certain minerals.
For example, canola oil and baking soda have pesticidal applications and are considered biopesticides.

17. 1. Microbial pesticides
Microorganism - entomopathogenic (e.g., a bacterium, fungus, virus or protozoan) as the active ingredient.
Microbial pesticides can control many different kinds of pests, although each separate active ingredient is relatively specific for its target pest[s].
For example, there are fungi that control certain weeds, and other fungi that kill specific insects.
The most widely used microbial pesticides are subspecies and strains of Bacillus thuringiensis, or Bt.
Each strain of this bacterium produces a different mix of proteins, and specifically kills one or a few related species of insect larvae.

18. 2. Plant-Incorporated-Protectants (PIPs)
Plant-Incorporated-Protectants (PIPs) are pesticidal substances that plants produce from genetic material that has been added to the plant.
For example, raking the gene for the Bt pesticidal protein, and introducing the gene into the plant's own genetic material.
The plant, instead of the Bt bacterium, manufactures the substance that destroys the pest.

19. 3. Biochemical pesticides
Naturally occurring substances that control pests by non-toxic mechanisms.
Biochemical pesticides include substances, such as insect sex pheromones (ecto-hormones/ alarm substances) , that interfere with mating, as well as various scented plant extracts that attract insect pests to traps.
Bacteriocins, proteinaceous toxins produced by bacteria to inhibit the growth of similar or closely related bacterial strain(s).

20. Benefits of Biological Controls
Usually cheaper to use than chemical controls
Don’t pollute the environment
Often kill only the pest, not beneficial insects