Btcontrol sublethal effects break corn earworm life cycle

A new research made in Brazil with BtControl (Bacillus thuringiensis Kurstaki), the microbiological insecticide produced by Simbiose Agro, demonstrated that the sublethal effects of the product broke the life cycle of different populations of corn earworm (Helicoverpa armigera). The study was conducted by Professor Ricardo Antonio Polanczyk from the São Paulo State University.

 

Polanczyk tested BtControl, manufactured by Simbiose, over different populations of corn earworms isolated from cotton, sorghum, citrus, and sugarcane. The results demonstrated a mortality of up to 100% in the first larval stages of caterpillars isolated on soybeans in the first days after applying the product.

 

Also according to the study, the caterpillars that survived after the application of BtControl suffered sublethal effects. The researcher says that "nearly 90% of surviving caterpillars after the treatments did not reach the pupa stage and among those that did not pupate, none had resulted in adult formation".

 

"The sublethal effects of BT on the caterpillars are important, even though it is too hard to evaluate the field conditions. Even though the caterpillar remains alive, its development is so much affected that its capacity to cause damage in the plant is substantially compromised" concluded the expert.