AgroPages-Scientists found safe fruit pest repellent-Agricultural news

Scientists at the University of California, Riverside have now identified a safe repellent that protects fruits from D. suzukii: Butyl anthranilate (BA), a pleasant-smelling chemical compound produced naturally in fruits in small amounts. In their lab experiments, the scientists found BA warded off D. suzukii from blueberries coated with it. The finding, when extrapolated to other agricultural pests, could provide a strategy for controlling them and increasing the productivity of crops and fruit.

Insects destroy a very large fraction of the global agricultural output – nearly 40 percent. The spotted wing Drosophila (Drosophila suzukii), for example, feeds on ripening fruits. A nuisance especially in Northern California and Europe, it lays its eggs inside ripe berries, and, when its larvae emerge there, the fruit is destroyed. As a result, each year D. suzukii causes hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of agricultural damage worldwide.

“Toxic insecticides are often risky to use directly on fruits – especially when they are close to being harvested,” said Anandasankar Ray, an associate professor of entomology and the director of the Center for Disease Vector Research at UC Riverside, whose lab performed the research project. “A safe and affordable repellent such as BA could provide protection and reduce use of toxic chemicals.”

Next, Ray wants to test how efficacious BA is in field trials, and if they are, to request approval from the US Environmental Protection Agency.

Last year, the UCR Office of Technology Commercialization helped Ray launch a company, Sensorygen Inc., around this technology. The office has filed a patent on the technology reported in the research paper, which has been licensed to Sensorygen Inc.

“The world needs additional tools to minimize the impact insects have on humans but without impacting the health of those people and the communities that we are working to protect,” said Paul Zorner, chairman and CEO of Sensorygen Inc. “Dr. Ray has developed a remarkable and novel method to find safe, powerful insect repellants that won’t kill anything but will simply keep them away from people as well as their homes, pets and food. It’s an exciting and unique discovery that has great global commercial potential to resolve some of the most challenging human health and food concerns facing us today.”