High caterpillar pressure: AgBiTech leads Baculovirus market

Recent data from Kynetec's FarmTrak survey positions AgBiTech Brasil as the market leader in baculovirus-based bioinsecticides, following the company's performance in corn and soybean crops. 

According to Global CEO Adriano Vilas Boas, in soybeans specifically, AgBiTech controls 95% of the market in the areas where the company operates. "In the soybean market during the 2023-24 season, Brazil recorded a predominance of baculovirus over 'Bt' (Bacillus thuringiensis) biologicals," emphasized Vilas Boas. "When we arrived in the country seven seasons ago, biological caterpillar control was practically anchored in Bt technology," he added. According to Kynetec's research data, baculovirus-based caterpillar control treated 59% of soybean areas in the past season, compared to 49% for Bt biologicals.

Marketing Director Pedro Marcellino added that besides marketing an effective portfolio for soybean caterpillar management systems, the company's business has been driven by the "worrying advance" of attacks from different species of these pests. In soybean farming, Kynetec's FarmTrak indicated that high caterpillar intensity increased the potential treated area (PTA) with insecticides by 46% in the last three seasons, reaching over 99 million hectares in the 2023-2024 cycle, he noted. 

According to Kynetec, this market grew from US$423 million to $705 million (+67%) in value terms. In Piauí and Pará, the study shows an impressive increase in insecticide applications: from about 2.5 per hectare to up to six.

Kynetec's FarmTrak also recorded intense caterpillar pressure in the country's second-crop corn fields. According to the consultancy, there was a 38% expansion this year to 22.5 million hectares of treated area with insecticides, which hadn't grown for at least three seasons. In value terms, the data shows that the insecticide market in the second crop increased from $129 million to $198 million, a 54% rise.

According to Marcellino, caterpillar pressure in the second crop increased sales of the company's Cartugen^® biocaterpillicide by 53%. He revealed that the product generated consistent business, especially where pest presence was considered alarming, as in the Mapitobapa region. In this area, according to Kynetec data, caterpillicide spraying increased 150% in 2024, from 2.1 million hectares to 5.3 million hectares.

Studies Support Baculovirus

Research led by scientists from institutions such as Esalq/USP and Brazilian federal universities reinforces the importance of adopting baculovirus-based bioinsecticides in caterpillar management. These biological products are gaining traction in the face of increasing levels of caterpillar resistance to transgenic crops or latest-generation biotechnologies, as well as to chemical insecticides with active ingredients that stood out until a few years ago for their high efficacy in management systems.

Recent surveys by Kynetec Brasil also support assessments related to increased caterpillar resistance to different technologies. The consultancy detected growth in chemical insecticide applications during the last soybean season (2023-2024) and the 2024 second-crop corn. 

In second-crop corn, Kynetec found that intense caterpillar pressure expanded the area treated with insecticides by 38% to 22.5 million hectares. Due to the severity of pest attacks in soybeans, the potential treated area (PTA) advanced 46% in the last three seasons to over 99 million hectares.

"We have found that Spodoptera frugiperda and Helicoverpa armigera are susceptible to baculoviruses and that there is no cross-resistance with chemical insecticides," summarized Celso Omoto from Esalq/USP, a pest resistance specialist. "I foresee that baculoviruses will play a fundamental role in preserving Bt technology characteristics," he added.

"Unlike other insecticides and Bt proteins, baculoviruses have a new mode of action and were therefore classified by IRAC International in Group 31. The high selectivity of baculoviruses to natural enemies favors their fit in integrated pest management (IPM), where multiple management tactics result in more robust control of Spodoptera frugiperda," Omoto continued.

Oderlei Bernardi, another renowned researcher from the University of Santa Maria, reiterated that recent research has documented high levels of caterpillar resistance to some soybean chemical insecticides. "Baculoviruses, having a new mode of action, are a good option for managing species that have become resistant to chemical insecticides," he reinforced.

Oderlei Bernardi, in his work with Spodoptera frugiperda, also confirmed positive interactions for better pest control when baculoviruses are applied to 'Intacta' soybeans.  "We need to explore this important additive effect in controlling species with low susceptibility to Bt proteins expressed in transgenic soybeans," he emphasized.

Entomologist Daniel Bernardi, who has been researching soybeans with extension workers and producers for several years, conducted similar work at the University of Pelotas. His studies in corn confirmed the University of Santa Maria's conclusions about soybeans. 

"Due to resistance to chemical insecticides and biotechnologies, it's becoming increasingly difficult to control Spodoptera frugiperda in corn," emphasized Bernardi. "Baculoviruses are among the best biological alternatives for managing resistance in this important agricultural pest," he added.

According to Paula Marçon, Vice President of Research & Development at the Australian-American company AgBiTech, baculoviruses are environmentally sustainable tools that are essential in caterpillar management programs in large-scale farming. "Baculoviruses constitute excellent population suppressors, causing disease in caterpillars and promoting epizootics that prolong field control," she said. 

Thus, the executive explained that they help improve the performance of biotechnologies and chemical insecticides, "which remain necessary in management but have demonstrably been losing efficacy due to pest resistance. This factor puts producer profitability and agribusiness sustainability at risk.″

(Editing by Leonardo Gottems, reporter for AgroPages)

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