AgBiTech Brasil reveals launch of biopesticide against moths

By Leonardo Gottems, Reporter for AgroPages

AgBiTech Brasil exclusively revealed, to AgroPages, the launch of a new biological control tool, which, according to recent research, reduces the moth population by over 95% in cotton-growing areas. 

Conceptually described as “attractive” to moths, 100% natural and composed of a unique mixture of plant extracts, the product, “Chamariz,” is safe to beneficial insects, such as bees, according to AgBiTech Brasil.

According to agronomist Marcelo Lima, Research and Development Manager at AgBiTech, “The product attracts moths and controls them by acting as an 'adulticide' insecticide. When mixed at low proportions, it prevents the development and growth of the pest in the plumes of the crop. Moth monitoring is essential.”

According to Lima, Chamariz is the outcome of an innovative experimental process that began about two years ago in Australia and continued in Brazil. In the country, it has been analyzed jointly by major producers, official agencies, agronomy schools, such as the Federal University of Goiás (UFG), and the research and development section of AgBiTech.

According to the company, analyses carried out so far highlight the fact that Chamariz achieved surprisingly good results against the following types of moths: Spodoptera frugiperda, Spodoptera eridania, Spodoptera cosmioides, Anticarsia gemmatalis, Elasmopalpus lignosellus, Helicoverpa armigera, H. zea, and Chloridea virescens.

For researchers, the product will lead to a new evolutionary phase in the adoption of control for food attractions in cotton, which, added to biological control, will represent a milestone in integrated pest management in this crop, Lima added. 

According to AgBiTech, Chamariz offers advantages that are favorable to producers, especially when linked to the management of pest resistance to chemical insecticides and biotechnologies.

“If producers use this tool in the field by means of traps or bands, they can eliminate a significant percentage of eggs and, consequently, of caterpillars in their areas,” said researcher Dr. Cecilia Czepak, Professor at the School of Agronomy from the Federal University of Goiás.

“For example, in relation to the soybean looper (Chrysodeixis includens), we know that a female can lay an average of 600 eggs. This is equivalent to saying that if we remove 50 females from the crop weekly, we will avoid, by behavioral control, the hatching of at least 30,000 caterpillars. In tests, we have already managed to collect, in a single trap, more than 1,500 soybean looper. A rough calculation, therefore, enables us to conclude that if half of this amount were females, we prevented the outbreak of 450,000 caterpillars,” Czepak added.

According to AgBiTech, at least five major Brazilian cotton producing groups will use the new technology in the 2020-21 harvest. “In Australia, Chamariz was adopted by 60% of farmers in the first year after being launched, and is recommended by the country's regulatory bodies for resistance management. A large global pesticide company also approved the product for the same purpose,” Lima noted.

He also revealed that Chamariz contains active ingredients that are additives for food products and are approved by the FAO, the North American regulatory agency for agriculture and food.