Pheromones can now be produced on large scale

Researchers have developed a method of producing pheromones on a large scale, therefore, making it possible to expand the use of the technology in integrated pest management. The result of a partnership between Lund University, the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, SemioPlant and ISCA Global, the research was revealed to AgroPages during the Brazilian Congress of Entomology 2022.

In the wild, female moths release a species-specific sex pheromone into the air to attract males for mating. Applying formulations with the same pheromone in the field creates thousands of pheromone trails that lead nowhere, making it nearly impossible for male moths to find new mates. Females are left to lay sterile eggs, which prevents the next generation of caterpillars from hatching, therefore, protecting crops.

Controlling insects through pheromones is considered by farmers and the scientific community as the future of protecting extensive crops, such as corn, soybeans and cotton, as well as those with high added value, such as apples, peaches, cherries and berries. They protect crops by manipulating the behavior of insects, preventing them from mating or repelling them from crops through sexual odor.

Agenor with Camelina Seeds on the microscope and oil and Pheromone

Unlike conventional insecticides, pheromones only affect target insects, leaving bees and other insects unharmed. In addition, pheromones leave no harmful residues in food production, cause little to no environmental pollution, and are much less prone to pest resistance. The new technology reduces or eliminates the use of pesticides and guarantees clean agriculture, ensuring that healthier foods reach people's tables. For agricultural producers, their businesses will become more profitable and sustainable.

″The results obtained made us very excited, because we had been pursuing this objective for a long time. The production and marketing of ISCA sprayable products containing plant-derived pheromones to control insects will solve a major problem for farmers in the field,″ said Brazilian researcher Agenor Mafra-Neto (CEO of ISCA Global).

The team successfully cultivated Camelina sativa seeds modified to produce (Z)-11-hexadecenoic acid, a sex pheromone precursor of several species of moths, which provides the oil from which the precursor was isolated from. It was then purified and transformed into the final pheromone, creating a low-cost source of pheromones necessary for the sustainable control of insects in row crops.

Camelina Seeds ISCA Tech (photo by Kurt Miller)

Trap baits and mating arresting substances that contain this plant-derived pheromone were then evaluated for their ability to control moths in the field. The baits were equally effective as a synthetic pheromone in monitoring the cruciferous moth, Plutella xylostella, in cabbage, as well as in interrupting the mating of the cotton moth, Helicoverpa armigera, in bean fields.

″We are very happy to see that the collaboration with ISCA will bring this innovation to the market for ecologically sound insect control. Our goal is to develop plant-based pheromone solutions for key insects, so they do not become global agricultural pests,″ said Mafra-Neto.

Researcher Per Hofvander (Professor at the Department of Plant Breeding at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences SLU, Alnarp) also celebrated the results, stating, ″In collaboration with ISCA, we are developing plant-derived pheromone controls for other insects, such as the fall armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda, another devastating moth species.″

Camelina small plot production in Sweden ISCA Tech Christer (hat) (photo by Agenor Mafra Neto)

″Producing low-cost pheromones by simply growing oilseeds will revolutionize the supply chain dynamics of the entire semiochemical pest control industry,″ he added.

Camelina, a cousin of broccoli and canola, is an ancient plant that produce oil in its seeds. It was cultivated by the Vikings for over a thousand years, and it is used to create low-cost sources of insect pheromones, which are expected to provide a major boost to mating disruption controls for several species of moths that attack crops across the globe.
 
The studies began five years ago using camelina seeds, a plant from the Brassicaceae family used in making cooking oil for over a thousand years. The team of scientists grew camelina plants in the laboratory and then modified their genetic code by inserting insect sex pheromones. In this way, precursors of insect pheromones were created in the seed oil to then produce the low-cost green pesticide.

Hong-Lei, Christer, Agenor, Bao-Jian in a Camelina Greenhouse (photo by Teun Dekker)

The research with camelina at ISCA has received investments worth US$750,000 over two stages. The project initially received US$100,000 for its initial phase from the USDA's National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), which awarded the grant through its Small Business Research Innovation program. The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) then disbursed US$650,000 for the research and commercialization of the product based on camelina. Studies at university research centers were also subsidized by several other entities.

″The Production of plant-based pheromones, such as camelina, can provide growers with products for the sustainable control of insects that are sorely needed in agriculture, especially now when global agriculture is facing increasing insect resistance, as conventional pesticides are less effective,″ said researcher Ed Cahoon (Director of the Center for Plant Science Innovation and Professor of Biochemistry at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in Lincoln).

″There is growing pressure from governments and consumers for increasingly safer and greener food production,″ he added.

(Editing by Leonardo Gottems, reporter for AgroPages)