Brazil: Biopesticide grows 1,460% in treated area in Bt soybeans

By Leonardo Gottems, reporter for AgroPages

There is a growth of 1460% in the treated area (PAT) with the baculovirus-based bioinsecticide Cartugen in the management of Spodoptera frugiperda in transgenic soybeans in Brazil, data from the consultancy Spark Smarter Decisions has shown.

Surveys by the MT Foundation, in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso, showed that the presence of the pest has been reduced for a longer period in maize crops as well, while it is also used in cotton.

According to the Marketing Director of AgBiTech Brasil, agronomist Murilo Moreira, the result obtained by Cartugen consolidated its effectiveness in handling the caterpillar, which nowadays posed the biggest challenge to the producer. Moreira stated that when associated with shock insecticides, baculoviruses acted much like a 'protector': they potentiated the effect of other products on the pest, submitting it to an active with a new mode of action.

“This concept encompasses chemical insecticides as well as biotechnologies (transgenics). Given the excessive application of insecticides and the increase in the adoption of biotechnology in the management of insects, there is a recurrent increase in the pressure to select resistant caterpillars, which are more difficult to control,” Moreira explained. According to him, Spark's numbers show consistent gains in producer confidence with Cartugen.

AgBiTech has become the Brazilian market leader in biolagaricides for soy, increasing its market share, in revenue, from 17% to 37% in the 2020-2021 harvest.

Corn

Dr. Lucia Vivan, a researcher at the Entomology department of the Mato Grosso Foundation for 18 years, has closely followed maize crops that have adopted baculovirus management combined with shock insecticides. The studies took place in off-season 2021, in Serra da Petrovina, in Pedra Preta, in the State of Mato Grosso.

“Applications of baculovirus combined with specific shock insecticides kept the population of Spodoptera frugiperda lower, in corn, for longer periods, offering protection to the plants,” Vivan highlighted.

According to the researcher, this control solution can be inserted in the producer's Spodoptera management. “However, it needs to be applied at the right time, in the first days of emergence, especially in corn stage V1, when the caterpillars are starting to colonize the area,” she emphasized.

Agronomist Marcelo Lima, manager of research and development at AgBiTech Brazil, added that in the corn crop, the Cartugen solution, associated with chemicals with shock action, performed above expectations in different regions surveyed in the 2020-21 cycle, such as Jataí (GO), Lucas do Rio Verde (MT) and Luís Eduardo Magalhães (LEM-BA).

“We observed minimized damage to the crop between 60% and 73%, compared to the untreated area. There was also a relevant increase in the control of Spodoptera frugiperda, from 33% to 41%,” Lima said in conclusion.