Fungal Biopesticide Development Lab

CHAP’s Fungal Biopesticide Development Laboratory is located at the Centre for Agriculture and Bioscience International (CABI) in Egham, Surrey.

It tests and screens for potential new fungal biopesticide isolates to treat existing and emerging pests and diseases affecting crops grown in the UK and beyond.

The laboratory enables pesticide companies and biopesticide manufacturers to quickly develop new biopesticides, which will give farmers more options. This is particularly important as traditional options disappear due to the banning of some chemical pesticides on one hand and the development chemical resistance by some crops on the other.

The demand for biological control has never been greater. Using state-of-the-art technology, including temperature-controlled shakers, incubators and computer-controlled spraying apparatus, samples that show potential, are taken forward to mass production and formulation studies, to determine whether they demonstrate the ability to become commercially viable pathogens against a range of insect pests or plant pathogens.

 

Our services include:

The Fungal Biopesticide Development Laboratory is being used to find fungal isolates that have the potential to become an economically viable biopesticide.

We offer services to pesticide companies and biopesticide manufacturers to:

  • Identify potential isolates for commercial development; and/or
  • Assist in the development of your own fungal isolates.

Case Study:

Following the EU banning of neonicotinoid insecticide seed dressing, which led to a sharp rise in cabbage flea stem beetle (CSFB) damage, farmers and the agrichemical industry urgently need to find alternatives, such as a fungal biopesticide solutions. The Fungal Biopesticide Development Laboratory has identified a UK fungal isolate that can kill CSFB larvae. The results are promising against the larval stage and we are now preparing to test the adult CSFB stage. In addition, the CHAP Molecular Diagnostics Laboratory is looking into how the cabbage stem flea beetle reacts to pesticides.

[Sassy_Social_Share style="background-color:transparent;" count="1" total_shares="ON"]
header-layer

For any further information about this capability or to discuss a collaboration and/or grant for a commercially funded project, complete the form below.

    I would like to sign up to the CHAP eNewsletter.

    ?>
    [activecampaign form=7 css=1]