China's first fall armyworm (spodoptera frugiperda) control pesticide granted registration

According to China Pesticide Registration Watch, the Shanxi Lvhai Agrochemical Co., Ltd recently received ICAMA’s approval of registration (certificate No. PD20190002) of extended use of its 30 billion spores/gram of beauveria bassiana WP for control of corn spodoptera frugiperda, bradysia odoriphaga and fall webworm. 

The product was earlier registered for control of the European corn borer in the cornfield, and the registration of this extended use is China's first-time registration of pesticide for control of spodoptera frugiperda.

According to Shanxi Lvhai Agrochemical, the company currently possesses 100 billion spores/grams of technical concentrate, and the production capacity of 30 billion spores/gram of beauveria bassiana technical can enable an annual output of 300 tons, which can be processed into 2,000 tons of formulations. The trials began in early 2019, and have now been approved after year-long trials and a six-month review and approval proceedings. 

Beauveria bassiana is a fungal microbial insecticide that infects hosts by penetrating an insect’s body wall, respiratory and digestive tracts, thus breaking up the body wall and tissues of the insect pest to cause its death. In 2019 and 2020, the product was consecutively put on the recommended-product list issued by the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs for emergency control of spodoptera frugiperda.

This year, the control of spodoptera frugiperda still faces challenges. Agrochemical industry experts say that a variety of chemical and biological pesticides can be used for control of spodoptera frugiperda, but no pesticide registrations have been approved yet for the prevention and control of spodoptera frugiperda, because the insect pest invading China is a new insect pest. Accordingly, there is only a recommended product list of pesticides from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs. The approval of registration of beauveria bassiana is expected to facilitate the prevention and control of spodoptera frugiperda.

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