Agriculture: new strategies for control of pests and insects

An international research network to tackle phytosanitary emergencies in developing countries and in the Mediterranean Basin. ENEA, together with the FAO, the CNR,  CREA, (Council for Agricultural Research and Agricultural Economics Analysis) and the IAEA (International Agency for Atomic Energy), will take concrete steps to control pests and insects in agriculture and a possible negative impact on human health.

An example? “Tuta absoluta”. After having infested tomato crops in South America, it has arrived in Spain, spreading throughout Europe, to reach Africa and Asia where it has caused  significant damage to the symbol of the Mediterranean diet. This apparently harmless insect is just one of the many threats to crops at a global level. Among the triggering factors: climate change, an indiscriminate use of  pesticides and large-scale monocultures.

It has been estimated that agricultural losses –before and after harvesting- are about 30-40% when using pesticides but the percentage rises up to 80% if farmers don’t apply effective control measures, such as pesticides, against pests and insects.  But what’s the downside? “ The use of pesticides, besides contaminating ecosystems, contributes to pesticide resistance- Maurizio Calvitti of ENEA explained- leading to a vicious circle in which ineffective pest control methods and rising production costs determine the unsustainability of the current agricultural practices”.  But there’s more. In the next thirty years 70% of the world’s population is expected to be concentrated in cities and this will favor the development of urban agriculture.

“If, on one hand, urban farming offers new possibilities of providing locally grown food supply- the ENEA researcher went on-  on the other it requires to manage the agricultural and the urban environment at the same time, where there’s the need for protecting crop yields and human health as well. This will require an integrated  vision of natural and agricultural ecosystems, animal husbandry and urbanized environments”.

At present, the integrated pest management systems (Integrated Pest Management & Integrated vector Management) are the only effective alternative to chemicals. But that’s not enough. There’s the need for a constant scientific research continuously updating and adapting solutions to abrupt climate changes.

“Among the most promising techniques to control infesting insects or in some cases eradicating a population- Calvitti explained- there are the so called “birth control methods” in which a large number of sterile males are released in the environment and mate with wild females, resulting in no offspring”.

A line of tiger mosquitoes (Aedes albopictus), able to procreate sterile males and compatible only with females of the same family, has been created at the ENEA laboratories.

The results of the first experimental work, recently published on the international science journal Plos One, have shown that using biotechnology methods based on the exploitation of the properties of the Wolbachia bacterium in place of conventional ionizing radiations- therefore without genetic control strategies- it’s possible to induce sterility in the male insect, improving its  vigour and competitiveness.

This line of mosquitoes, called ARwP, was already successfully tested in a controlled environment against wild populations of Italian and tropical tiger mosquitoes, notably on the French Island of Réunion. “ Once  the experimental trials are concluded- Maurizio Calvitti said- the mosquito line created by ENEA will be available for strategies of reproduction inhibition of the tiger mosquito, suspected of being a vector of the Zika virus. The same technique could then be used to combat agricultural pests such as the Mediterranean fruit fly and the olive fly.

For more information please contact:

Maurizio Calvitti, ENEA Casaccia Research Center, maurizio.calvitti@enea.it

http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0146834