Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2019 Mar 1;19(2):5.
doi: 10.1093/jisesa/iey112.

Applied Biological Control in Brazil: From Laboratory Assays to Field Application

José Roberto Postali Parra  1 , Aloisio Coelho  1
Affiliations
Review

Applied Biological Control in Brazil: From Laboratory Assays to Field Application

José Roberto Postali Parra et al. J Insect Sci. .

Abstract

Brazil has a long history of the use of biological control (BC) of pests. The first attempt to use parasitoids was reported in the 1930s, and the first successful case dates to 1967. For a long period, chemical products were the most widespread control measure among Brazilian growers. This situation has gradually changed because of the lack of satisfactory control to manage certain pests, a slow change in the culture of growers, and some emblematic cases of the successful use of BC. The use of BC as a component of Integrated Pest Management is increasingly common. The present contribution summarizes the evolution of BC in Brazil, citing as an example the case of successful use of Cotesia flavipes (Cameron) (Hymenoptera: Braconidae), Tamarixia radiata (Waterston) (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae) and Trichogramma spp. It presents some data on the utilization of BC in the country, such as the case of sugarcane, for which microorganisms as well as macroorganisms are used; the use of Baculovirus in soybean, produced in mass-reared lepidopteran larvae; and the recent case of the control of Diaphorina citri Kuwayama (Hemiptera: Liviidae) by the parasitoid Tamarixia radiata. Finally, the prospects for wider use of BC in Brazil are discussed, together with the challenges involved in broadening the growers' use of this technology.

Keywords: mass rearing; pest management; quality control.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Fig. 1.
Fig. 1.
Tamarixia radiata and Diaphorina citri rearing system (from Parra et al. 2016).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Ausique J. J. S., D’alessandro C. P., Conceschi M. R., Mascarin G. M., and Delalibera I. Jr. 2017. Efficacy of entomopathogenic fungi against adult Diaphorina citri from laboratory to field applications. J. Pest Sci. 90: 947–960.
    1. Batista Filho A., Costa V., and Hojo H.. 2017. Neodusmetia sangwani (Subba Rao) (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae) to control Antonina graminis (Maskell) (Hemiptera: Pseudococcidae) in pastures in Brazil: a revision. Arq. Inst. Biol. 84: e0432016.
    1. Bertin A., Pavinato V. A. C., and Parra J. R. P.. 2018. Effects of intraspecific hybridization on the fitness of the egg parasitoid Trichogramma galloi. Biocontrol 1:1–9.
    1. Bleicher E., and Parra J. R. P.. 1989. Espécies de Trichogramma parasitoides de Alabama argillacea. I. Biologia de três populações. Pesq. Agropec. Bras. 24: 929–940.
    1. Bleicher E., and Parra J. R. P.. 1990. Espécies de Trichogramma parasitoides de Alabama argillacea. III. Determinação das exigências térmicas de três populações. Pesq. Agropec. Bras. 25: 215–219.