Mexico has 24,000 hectares of corn that use pheromones to combat fall armyworm

The Government of Mexico is promoting the use of a biological solution developed by the American company, Provivi, co-founded by Nobel laureate Frances Arnold, to sexually confuse the pest, the fall armyworm, and prevent its reproduction.

Of the 60 insects that attack corn crops in Mexico, the one that generates the most challenges is the fall armyworm. These small larvae of a small moth can cause considerable losses in corn crops, even reaching 100%. To combat this pest, the Government of Mexico is promoting the use of a new biological weapon: pheromones, which cause sexual confusion in these insects and prevent their reproduction.

The Secretary of Agriculture and Rural Development (Sader) announced that they are using this biotechnology technique on 24,000 hectares of corn crops, with more than a third being located in Sinaloa . This is a small fraction of the almost 8 million hectares where white and yellow corn planted in the country, but there is the potential to scale up quickly due to technique’s low cost and environmental sustainability.

Víctor Villalobos, secretary of Sader, said that the technique’s economic and environmental costs are low "since it consists of placing bait dispensers that contain pheromones in plots during planting." When released, the chemical causes mating confusion in male moths, preventing them from finding females, therefore, mating is prevented and worm eggs, which could damage corn plants, are avoided.

To promote the technique, the Mexican Government acquired the services of American scientist Frances Arnold, who has a Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2018 and is the co-founder of Provivi. During a conference, Arnold said that using pheromones to inhibit mating between the many species of army worm in 2013 was just an idea . However, she pointed out that after ten years of research by Pedro Coelho, an expert at the California Institute of Technology and his partner in Provivi, the method was refined to interfere and create sexual confusion in the insect.

Searching for a pheromone that protects corn from fall armyworm is not unique to the Brazilian Government. The Latin American subsidiary of the company, FMC, said that this technique is one of its objectives to ensure its growth in the region. In July 2022, the firm completed the acquisition, for US$200 million, of Danish company BioPhero, which specializes in the development of pheromones, allowing it to expand its catalog of biocontrol and biostimulant products.

Renata Alcaraz, head for Latin America, except for Brazil, of FMC’s Plant Health FMC department, said, ″We are at the stages of brand development, positioning design and registration for the commercialization of pheromones in the region. We are working to develop solutions for fall armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda and Helicoverpa.″

THE BENEFITS OF PHEROMONES

Mexican researchers said that some of the benefits of pheromones include the fact that they prevent the use of large amounts of chemical insecticides, as well as help balance the environment and reduce costs for producers.

Doroteo Caro, agronomist from the Jalisco Rural Development Secretariat (SEDER), said that every male fertilizes females to generate 1,350 eggs, which then contaminate the farmland, so removing males drastically reduces the proliferation of harmful insects.

Studies by the National Institute of Forestry, Agriculture and Livestock Research (INIFAP) showed that the traps used caught 17 to 120 males, proving that the results are positive for this biological pest control technique.

The research has showed that pheromones bring savings of 30 to 40% in insecticide purchase costs. Therefore, there is significant financial saving per hectare, experts said.

The 4th Biopesticides, Biostimulants and Novel Fertilizers International Summit (BioEx 2023) will take place on 9th & 10th March in Hangzhou, China. We are pleased to invite speakers from the commercial, research, extension, government, regulatory and farming sectors to submit your proposals and abstracts for oral presentations.