Edition number 18 of Focus, the dossier from EcophytoPIC, France’s IPM web portal, focuses on developments in biocontrol over the past three and a half years, painting an encouraging picture of a sector enjoying steady growth, not least due to its promotion by Ecophyto, France’s ambitious National Action Plan for reducing and improving pesticide use, and the creation of the country’s Biocontrol Consortium in 2015. The latter brings together 48 stakeholders, including manufacturers and research and technical institutes, with the aim of coordinating and supporting new biocontrol solutions for French agriculture. 

The authors of Focus number 18, ACTA’s Philippe Delval and Olivier Ligot, note the changes in legislation which have helped the development of biocontrol in France (major laws such as that on the future of agriculture, Ecophyto II, and the Potier and Labbé bills) and adapted authorisation procedures for registering biocontrol products.

The latter are the responsibility of ANSES (the French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health & Safety), which reports: “ANSES has adapted its procedures to facilitate the examination of marketing authorisation applications for biocontrol products submitted by companies. The dossiers for these products are assessed on a priority basis, and the administrative fees are lower compared to the application dossiers for other types of plant protection products. In addition, the timeframes for examining these dossiers have been reduced to six months, making them shorter than those for other plant protection products.”

The CEPP system (you can read more on the ENDURE website here) currently covers 36 actions to reduce synthetic pesticide use, 17 of them concerning the introduction of biocontrol measures. The majority of these involve the use of natural substances, though others cover the use of micro and macro-organisms and chemical mediators (currently pheromones but possibly kairomones in the future). Taking the vegetable production sector as an example, CEPP actions which earn plant protection product sellers certificates include the use of natural defence stimulators to combat fungal diseases, sulphur-based biocontrol products to control powdery mildew and the replacement of metaldehyde-based anti-slug products with naturally occurring molluscides.

The report notes that 44 new active substances have reached the biocontrol market since 2015. Of 14 new micro-organisms, the authors note four of particular interest. For use on various crops, these are Bacillus thuringiensis  spp. aizawai , an insecticide for controlling lepidopteran larvae, and Helicoverpa armigera  nucleopolyhedrovirus (HearNPV) for specific control of Helicoverpa armigera  (cotton bollworm). For use In more specialised crops, they note Spodoptera littoralis  nucleopolyhedrovirus for controlling Spodoptera littoralis  (African cotton leafworm) and Adoxophyes orana  granulovirus, an insecticidal product for control of Adoxophyes orana  (summer fruit tortrix) in apple production.   

For each of these control methods, the report includes a link to the ANSES database, E-Phy, which contains details of the products available and how and when they may be used. The report follows the same approach for the 10 new micro-organisms available, including, for example, biological fungicides for controlling powdery mildew and grey rot in grapes, and a virus which protects plants against aggressive isolates of pepino mosaic virus (PepMV). For field crops, new products include a bacterium for controlling the pathogens responsible for silver and black scurf in potato crops and a fungicidal bacterium for alternaria, powdery mildew and sclerotinia control in oilseed rape.

Turning their attention to chemical mediators, the authors note the number of pheromone diffusers for sexual confusion now available on the market to combat moths in fruit trees and vineyards. There are also new combinations of pheromones to combat common pests such as Cydia pomonella (codling moth, pictured right) in apple crops and European grapevine and vine moths in grape production.

The report also provides details of numerous natural substances, mainly plant-based, which provide biocontrol options in IPM strategies. These include, for example, the use of fatty acids as a miticide, geraniol for grey rot control in grapevine and garlic extract, which can be used as a nematicide in vegetable and ornamental crops.

The authors note the rise of biocontrol as a subject for public and private research, with major financial and human investments as part of the Ecophyto plan and other French and European research agendas. This includes the work of France’s Biocontrol Consortium, whose XP-BC project is seeking to create an experimentation network to support the development and use of biocontrol. In particular, the project wants to break the trend for isolated biocontrol experiments, developing common protocols and methods in order to clearly identify the success factors for the use of biocontrol products in key situations.

The report identifies those projects working on new biocontrol solutions and those working on new uses for biocontrol products. The latter includes the MilPomBio project, which is seeking biocontrol solutions to combat late blight in potato, the disease which accounts for much of the raised Treatment Frequency Index (TFI) in this crop. It is examining the coupling of biocontrol solutions with varietal resistance in order to reach symptom levels acceptable to producers and consumers. Another major pest being targeted is Cydia pomonella  (codling moth), a worldwide problem in orchards. The BIOCCYD project is evaluating two parasitoid wasps in controlling this pest: Trichogramma  targeting their eggs and wasps from the Mastrus  genus targeting their pupae.

The authors note that biocontrol sales have increased strongly in recent years, with sales of products in the agricultural sector growing by 18% between 2015 and 2016 to reach €76 million. In monetary terms, biocontrol products account for around 5% of all plant protection product sales in France, with the French section of the International Biocontrol Manufacturers Association targeting a 15% share by 2025.

For more information:

• Go to EcophytoPIC, France’s IPM portal, here
• Go to EcophytoPIC’s biocontrol pages here
• Visit the English pages of the ANSES website here