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Pest management research eating away at $350m yearly losses
Elizabeth Gracie
Researchers are making use of microorganisms and tracking insecticide-resistance around the globe in a bid to cut down Australia’s grain crop losses of $350m per year from pests.
The Australian Grains Pest Innovation Program (AGPIP), is a joint initiative from the Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC), the University of Melbourne, and scientific research organisation Cesar Australia.
“AGPIP will be focused on developing novel tools to decrease transmission and pest feeding impact, forecast pest issues and enhance beneficial insect and chemical stewardship,” said Paul Umina, AGPIP program lead, from the University of Melbourne.
These tools will primarily target the diamondback moth, red-legged earth mite, corn earworm, and the green peach aphid who have developed immunity to insecticide and helped in the transmission of harmful plant pathogens that have spread a variety of plant diseases.
According to Cesar extension scientist Francesca Noakes, insecticide resistance occurs when a mutation develops within a pest population that confers genetic protection against the chemical action.
Umina says that AGPIP will map resistance occurrences across Australia and the glove, and develop new diagnostic techniques to make identification of resistance easier and more accurate for major insect pests.
By mapping resistance occurrences, the Australian grains industry will be kept up to date with information on the Australian distribution of resistance for priority grains pests. By collecting and collating the data, researchers hope to predict how pest species may develop resistance to insecticides in the future, helping grain growers mitigate the risk and losses they may face from such species.
“Insecticide resistance in key crop pests poses a significant risk to growers’ pest control regimes” said Umina.
AGPIP is also investigating the use of endosymbionts, which are microorganisms that form symbiotic relationships with other cells and organisms around them.
Endosymbionts can also significantly influence an insects ability to transit crop viruses or resist pesticides, making them a vital component of this research.
Associate Professor Umina believes that “by utilising novel technology like endosymbiont manipulation and improving our ability to predict regional resistance risk, AGPIP has the potential to enhance control of insect pests in grains”.
“The successful manipulation of endosymbionts to reduce virus transmission and direct feeding damage in aphids and to increase rates of parasitism and predation of key moth pests could greatly improve growers’ pest management regimes by providing sustainable control methods and reducing insecticide use on farms,” said Noakes.
In doing so researchers will be conducting experiments into endosymbiont manipulation to reduce levels of transmission for plant diseases, lower direct feeding damage by pest species and increase rates of parasitism and predation of key crop pests said the GRDC.
Over the next five years, AGPIP will continue developing pest management options and new tools that are competitive to current chemical regimes in cost, availability, and efficacy, that are sustainable from a social and environmental perspective.
“We will continue to ensure that our research is useful and directly applicable to Australian grain growers” said Noakes.
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Trace minerals are required for optimal growth, reproduction, and immunity. Optimising trace mineral status relying solely on oral supplements across a herd may fail because of variation in individual intake and reduced absorption due to antagonism of other ration components and minerals. The use of injectable trace mineral supplements has been associated with positive reproductive outcomes including improved conception rate, increased odds of pregnancy and greater final in calf rate. A study conducted on 2,168 dairy cows, administered injectable trace minerals, four weeks prior to calving and again four weeks prior to the start of mating showed treated animals had a 3.3 per cent greater final in-calf rate, and a reduced time from start of mating to conception, compared to control animals 1 . The Importance of B12 Dr Carl Eden, Technical Services Veterinarian with Boehringer Ingelheim says “Vitamin B12 is sometimes referred to as a ‘super vitamin’ because it is only required in very small amounts but vital to many essential metabolic pathways. However, demand for B12 can vary considerably during the year and we see serum levels of B12 fall at critical times, such as the first few months after calving.” Vitamin B12 contains cobalt, so deficiency in cobalt can lead to deficiency in vitamin B12 because ruminants get most of their B12 as a byproduct of ruminal fermentation where the bacteria in their rumen assemble B12 from cobalt for use by the cow. Sub-optimal trace mineral and vitamin B12 status at calving, mating, and drying off has been shown to negatively impact growth, reproduction, and immunity. Using a trace mineral injectable containing vitamin B12 can improve trace mineral and vitamin B12 status at these critical times. Marks-Min with Vitamin B12 – The Evidence In the largest trace element study to date, Marks-Min Injectable Trace Mineral with Vitamin B12 demonstrated remarkable results when compared to a reference trace mineral injection. “Given the differences between Marks-Min and other products on the market, we wanted to generate a compelling data set to demonstrate how effective it was compared to the pioneer product. We entrusted this work to a third-party research company” says Dr Eden. “We chose farms that were at the top of their game from a reproductive perspective. We made sure that the farms had no evidence of trace element or vitamin B12 deficiencies or excess.” Across all outcomes of interest, Marks-Min demonstrated clear non-inferiority when compared to the reference product. Outcomes measured included submission, pregnancy and conception rates, and six week in-calf rate. Marks-Min demonstrated it is highly suited as an alternative treatment to the reference product. Reference: 1. Hawkins, D., and B. V. S. Franklin. New Zealand Dairy Veterinarians Newsletter 24 (2007): 12-16 Company website: livestockfirst.com.au Company email address: CustomerCare.Australia@boehringer-ingelheim.com Company video: https://vimeo.com/1138807630?fl=pl&fe=cm
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