NOTHRIPS

Development of a contaminating trap for insect pests

Every year around the world, damage worth around one billion CHF is caused by the insect pests that are thrips and for which authorized chemical solutions are becoming increasingly rare. These tiny insects belong to the order Thysanoptera, which has more than 6’000 species. They attack all types of crops: field crops, forestry, food crops and ornamental crops.

The objective of this research is to offer an innovative organic approach to plant protection and for which there is no variant on the market. Simpler, more economical, our solution will be synonymous with gains for producers, without impact on the environment and without residue on the vegetal products.

The proposed innovation involves combining the attraction of the target insect with a product in which pheromones and kairomones are mixed with a bio-insecticide. An insect specimen lured into a trap will emerge laden with this product and disseminate it in the environment to attract and infect the rest of the population. A much better targeted control than with known techniques will thus take place without having to repeat insecticide applications. It is therefore a biological alternative to chemical control, using pheromones and a fungus. For this project, we will be using a registered mushroom that poses no risk to agricultural workers, the environment and supporting wildlife, and consumers.

Based on this proof of concept, other traps and pheromone formulations will be developed to target other pests like aphids or whitefly. This method also includes speeding up registration processes for entomophagous fungi. A 90% improvement in the efficiency of the biopesticide is expected over conventional spraying methods. In addition, since the farmer will no longer have to spray the biopesticide, a savings of over 40% in application costs is expected. Reducing the number of passages through crops with heavy machinery would preserve the soils from compaction. Finally, this decreases the cost of using biopesticides for an efficiency equivalent to chemical pesticides and without impact on the environment.

The study will focus on verifying the effectiveness of insect contamination, as well as the spread of spores to the rest of the population. In vitro and in plant tests will be carried out in order to demonstrate the concept for various prototypes of traps and formulations of pheromone/fungus mixtures. The project will require:

• rearing Frankliniella occidentalis thrips,
• the selection of effective commercial fungi,
• the evaluation of the behavior of thrips after infection,
• the development of an adhesive formulation allowing the thrips to be loaded with numerous spores,
• the development of traps and pheromone mixtures,
• the quantification of pheromones emitted by traps and measurement of the efficiency of congeners infestations under laboratory and greenhouse conditions.

This project involves demonstrating the concept, defining a prototype and obtaining data on the behavior of insect pests in more real-life conditions than in the laboratory.

This project will be developed in collaboration with Green Protecta, a partner based in Geneva.

If successful, economic, ecological and scientific valuations will be carried out.

Picture: Matthew Bertone