KELVINGTON, Sask. – A biological herbicide that has demonstrated up to 90 percent efficiency in the suppression of broadleaf weeds recently moved one step closer to commercial availability.
Phoma macrostoma, which was discovered by Karen Bailey at the University of Saskatchewan, was one of five biopesticides selected for regulatory support by Agriculture Canada’s Pesticide Risk Reduction (PRR) Program.
The selections were among 371 pest management solutions submitted from around the world and considered during an international conference in Ottawa.
The PRR Program’s biopesticides team will spend the next two years working with registrants, growers and researchers to develop data and compile registration packages that can be submitted to the Pest Management Regulatory Agency.
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Phoma macrostoma is a fungus that naturally infects Canada thistle, causing plants to stop producing chlorophyll, turn white and die.
Bailey determined that the fungus affects more than just Canada thistle and will now develop and register it for use in agricultural crops.
The other four biopesticides are:
• ACM941, a biofungicide discovered by Agriculture Canada scientist Allen Xue. It is a naturally occurring strain of the fungus clonostachys rosea. The PRR Program will help develop, register and commercialize the biofungicide to control fusarium head blight in wheat and botrytis mould in greenhouse tomatoes.
• Naturalis is a bioinsecticide based on the naturally occurring strain of the fungus beauveria bassiana. It’s already registered in Europe, the United States and Mexico. It will be registered in Canada to control thrips in greenhouse peppers and the cherry fruit fly in field vegetable and fruit crops.
• Met52 is a bioinsecticide based on the naturally occurring strain of the fungus metarhizium anisopliae. It is registered in Canada and the European Union to control black vine weevil and strawberry root weevil on container grown ornamentals and berries. Support from the PRR Program will help expand its uses to include thrips in onions and greenhouse ornamental crops.
• Rhapsody is a biofungicide based on the naturally occurring strain of bacillus subtilis. It’s already registered in Canada and the U.S. to control ornamental, turf and lawn diseases such as botrytis leaf spot, sclerotinia and root rots.
The program will help expand Rhapsody’s uses to include control of root rots in outdoor ornamental crops.
The PRR Program has supported the submission of registration packages for 19 biopesticides since 2005, including 138 uses. Fourteen are now registered.
Bailey said research last summer that was funded by the Canadian Wheat Board’s organic sector market development initiative helped demonstrate that Phoma can work as well as conventional herbicides.
“But to get the consistency, there needs to be some tweaking of the product,” she said. “I believe that it will take about three years to do the research on formulation, environmental effects and collect the required efficacy data with the end product formulation. Then we can submit the data registration package. A reasonable guess would be (that it would be available) in five years to producers.”
