Exosect partners with industry and researchers to control beetle pests in pulse crops

Exosect recently announced that it is a member of a new collaborative research programme which aims to combat beetle and weevil pests that damage pulse crops. The project is partially funded by Innovate UK and the BBSRC with additional support from industry partners PGRO, Rothamsted Research, Oecos and BASF plc.

Launched recently by the PGRO, the focus of the project is to develop a Lure & Kill system using Exosect’s electrostatic micro-powder technology to enable the targeted delivery of a range of active ingredients including beetle specific attractive odours (semio-chemicals), reduced quantities of currently registered insecticides and spores of entomopathogenic fungi, to the crop pests.

Following discussions with growers over recent years, it has become apparent that current control using spray applications have become less effective” says Becky Ward, Principal Technical Officer at PGRO, “We believe this is either due to increasing pest pressure, or possibly decreased efficacy of pyrethroid insecticides”

Exosect’s CEO, Martin Brown, comments, “This exciting research project with PGRO and industry partners enables Exosect to leverage the knowledge gained from seven years of successfully developing the Entostat platform to deliver fungal spores to control insects in stored commodities, coupled with the company’s experience in Lure & Kill systems”.