Presentation discusses recent advances in microbial control of insects using fungi to counter criticisms of this approach, and presents author's thoughts about use of microbes in IPM.

1. Using Insect Pathogenic Fungi
to Manage Insect Pests
Where Are We Going?
(Where SHOULD We Be Going?)
Stefan Jaronski
USDA Agricultural Research Service,
Northern Plains Agricultural Research Lab
Sidney MT USA
2017 IOBCwprs Insect Pathology Working Group meeting, Tbilisi GE

2. DISCLAIMER
Mention of trade names or commercial
products in this publication is solely for the
purpose of providing specific information
and does not imply recommendation or
endorsement by the U.S. Department of
Agriculture.
Opinions expressed are the speaker’s, based
on the speaker’s expertise, and not that of
the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

3. Courtesy Bill Stoneman, Biopesticide Industry Alliance
Biopesticide use is growing

4. data, Courtesy BPIA

5. Agraquest
Agrivir
Anatis
Bioprotection
Arvesta
Becker
Microbials
Biotepp
Certis
JABB
LAM Intl
Marrone
BioInnovations
M&R Durango
Novozymes
Biologicals
Planet Natural
Reuter
Troy Biosciences
Valent Biosciences
U.S. Companies
with microbial products
AgBiochem
Arysta Lifescience NA
AZ Cotton Research &
Protection Council
Bioworks
Circle One Global Inc.
Growth Products Ltd
Jet Harvest Systems
Montana BioAgriculture LLC
Myco-Forests Corp
Mycologic Inc.
Natural Industries Inc.
Nufarm
NW Agricultural Products
Premier Horticulture Inc
Verdera Oy
OmniLytics
Bayer BASF
Syngenta Monsanto

8. B. brongniartii
5%
B. bassiana
40%
M. anisopliae
39%
H. thompsonii
1%
M. acridum
3%
I. fumosorosea
6%
L. longisporium
2%I. farinosus
1%
L. muscarium
3%
Mycoinsecticides:
110 active, commercial products in 2006
(~160 in 2017 )
Faria and Wraight Biological Control 43 (2007) 237–256

9. Why are the fungi so popular?
• Benign, for
people,
environment
• Easily mass-
produced
• Easily applied,
just like a chemical…
• Invite the
imagination?

10. 





11. 2016 and 2017 Surveys of California vegetable growers
Vegetable Grower magazine

12. What’s the problem?
we are using these biopesticides,
As inundative
(although biological)
catastrophic
density-independent
mortality factors
i.e. like chemicals …

13. A fact of life and death
• A single spore does not make a lethal infection
• LC50 Beauveria GHA
300 spores/mm2 (Whitefly) (Wraight et al 1998)
100 spores/mm2 (Diamondback Moth) (Wraight et al 2010)
• 10,000,000,000 mm2 in a flat hectare
80,000,000,000 mm2 in 1 ha of canopy w/ “L.A.I.” of 8
= 8x1012 spores (DBM), 2.4x1013 spores (WF) / ha
= $36/ha $100/ha
One needs a LOT of spores
Numbers, numbers, numbers

14. AND, Delivery of fungus spores is inefficient
often VERY INEFFICIENT
Therefore,
DBM: ~US$50/ha
WF: ~US$180/ha
per spray

15. How to make fungi better, cheaper to use?
Deliver them more efficiently with better
spray approaches
ULV oil sprays with spinning disk sprayer
High volume
orchard sprayer
Motorized mist blower

16. How to make fungi better, cheaper?
Creative approaches in application
to improve coverage
Jaronski 2010

17. How to make fungi better, cheaper?
Oil-based
formulation
increases
efficacy 8900
1.00E+
06
1
10
100
1000
10000
100000
1000000
Oil Water
LD50conidia/insect
Bateman et al . 1993. Annals Appl Biol

18. How to make fungi better, cheaper?
Improve
persistence
via formulations

19. BotaniGard® 22WP
+ 0.06-0.08% Silwet L77®
Spores penetrated in substantial
numbers into 5-6th petals of unopened
flower
Control much better than 22WP alone
How to make fungi better, cheaper?
Make application more efficient thru formulation
additives

20. How to make fungi better, cheaper?
Make application more efficient thru novel
formulations
Carnuba wax carrier e.g. Entostat®;
or Candelilla wax powder
Exosect Ltd.

21. How to make fungi better, cheaper?
Combine chemical stressors with fungi
 to stress insects’ immunity
 alter behavior

22. How?
Traditional
• Screening for the ‘best’ isolates
– Let Nature provide
• Classical mutation selection – tradeoffs
Novel
• Transgenic approaches: virulence factors,
enhanced detox mechanisms
– BUT, regulatory, societal challenges
How to make fungi work better, cheaper?
Obtain (or create) a ‘better’ microbe

23. How to make fungi better, cheaper?
Bring the insect to the microbe
Alginate beads with Metarhizium
or Beauveria spores and CO2-
releasing yeast to attract
wireworms to a “Fatal Candy”
Vemmer et al 2016
• Fatty acids, attractive to
grasshoppers, mixed with
fungus spores sprayed in
strips
Jaronski and Lockwood
Metarhizium applied with
methyl-isonicotinate Lurem-TR
to attract Thrips to conidia.

24. Use the insect to vector the microbe to its
relatives.
How to make fungi better, cheaper?
• Japanese beetle
Medeiros , Mota, Jaronski 2009

25. Use another insect to transfer the microbe to
where it’s needed
How to make fungi better, cheaper?
• Honeybees, Bumblebees vectoring Beauveria to
flowers
 US/Canada registration of BotaniGard 22WP bee vectoring
 Biobest “Flying doctors” program
 Bee Vector Technologies system

26. How to make fungi better, cheaper?
Nutritive granule
Jaronski
Microsclerotial granule
Jackson & Jaronski
Sweet whey microfactory
on leaf surface Costa
Magnify the number of fungus spores by allowing
it to reproduce in the field

27. Take advantage of target insect’s behavior to
increase transfer efficiency:
How to make fungi better, cheaper?
• Put the spores where larvae
(e.g. cherry fruit fly) fall to
pupate (Cossentine and Jaronski)
• Spray mosquito resting
habitat (resting boxes
in urban area) with spores
• Spray treebark over which
gypsy moth larvae ,
Asian longhorned beetles
must crawl

28. And the newest possibilities
The insect pathogenic fungi,
Beauveria, Metarhizium, Isaria
as plant endophytes
Beauveria are endophytic in
maize, cocoa, date palm, coffee, grapes,
tomato, banana, sorghum, medicinal poppy, jute,
broad bean, cassava, cotton, strawberries,
wheat …
Metarhizium are endophytic in
rape, beans, switchgrass, yew, rice;
more famously associated with root systems.
Gomez-Vidal et al., 2006
Micron 37 (2006) 624–632

29. Beauveria, Metarhizium, Isaria
as endophytes
Can be artificially introduced
in at least some plants
- Foliar application
- Seed treatment
- Root dip

30. Courtesy Anant Patel, Bielefeld University
Visualization of the concept by one university-industry group

31. from Quesada-Moraga et al. 2006

32. How about, Induction of Systemic Resistance
to herbivores, by the endophytes

33. Induction of Systemic Resistance, to
herbivores – an example

34. Induction of Systemic Resistance by
endophytes ?
Fusarium
Bb
Bb
Bb
Trichoderma
Giberella
Trichoderma
Fusarium
Akutse et al. 2013
Fungal Ecology 6, 293 – 301.

35. Effect of Vicia faba plants endophytically-
colonized by different fungal isolates of
Beauveria bassiana (S4SU1, G1LU3 and
ICIPE279) and Hypocrea lixii (F3ST1) (=
Trichoderma harzianum) on adult emergence of
Liriomyza huidobrensis and Phaedrotoma
scabriventris.
Colonization of different parts of Vicia faba
(a) and Phaseolus vulgaris (b) plants by
endophytic isolates of Beauveria bassiana
(S4SU1, G1LU3 and ICIPE279), Fusarium
oxysporum (M6SF1 and M7SF3), Trichoderma
asperellum (M2RT4), Hypocrea lixii (F3ST1)
and Gibberella moniliformis (E3RF20) and
non-endophytic isolates of Metarhizium
anisopliae (ICIPE30 and S4ST7).
Akutse et al. 2013 Fungal Ecology 6, 293 – 301.
Induction of Systemic Resistance by
endophytes ?

36. Induction of Systemic Resistance
without endophytism does occur
”

37. Induction of Systemic Resistance
PathogenAssocMPs
MicrobialAMPs
DamageAMPs
HerbivoreAMPs
Plants can recognize molecular patterns
Microbes on plant’s cuticle are a molecular pattern …

38. Newman et al 2013 Frontiers in Plant Science Vol. 4 Art. 139
There are all sorts of molecular patterns
‘perceived’ by plants

40. There is no such thing as a
“magic bullet”
(If you think there is, “I would like to sell you a
bridge – cheap”).

41. MicrobialsPredators
& parasites
Cultural
practices
Chemicals
Physical
measures
Plant resistance
Pheromones/repellents
Sterile
insects
Integrated Pest Management
Many tools used as a system

43. Integrated Pest Management
(U.S. National IPM Network).
“Integrated Pest Management (IPM) is a
• sustainable approach
• to managing pests
• by combining biological, cultural, physical and
chemical tools in a way that
• minimizes economic, health, and environmental
risks”.

44. INFONET Biovision

47. Cuttings immersed in
• Insecticidal soap +
• Readily integrated
• Compatible with biologicals
• Low risk of disease
‘Clean start’ program in poinsettia
Courtesy Vineland Research

48. Clean start – poinsettia cuttings
BotaniGard WP/soap dip + Eretmocerus eremicus
0
5
10
15
20
25
1 3 5 7
Dipped, no bios
Dipped, w/bios
Not dipped, w/bios
MeannumberofBemesiaperplant
Weeks after dip
4 1086
Courtesy Vineland Research

49. • Met52 EC compatible with cucumeris, excellent control ofWFT
• Out-performed SuccessTM (spinosad) at label rate
• Combination also supressedTSSM
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
4wks 8wks 4wks 8wks
Thrips Spider mite
control Success
Met52 EC Met/ cucu
a
c
bc
ab
b
b
a
c
aa
b
c
Meann0.pestsperpot(4plants)
Met52 and cucumeris
Thrips in Greenhouse cucumbers
Courtesy Vineland Research

50. Biocontrol through production
A case study in mums
Integrated use of biocontrol agents from
propagation thru’ finishing to shipping
Courtesy Vineland Research

51. • BotaniGard® or Met52 EC
• Weekly sprays (3x)
• Nematodes (S. feltiae)
• Drench, weekly
• Predatory mites
• N. cucumeris
• Broadcast weekly (3x)
Misting and blackout stages
Mini Airbug
Courtesy Vineland Research

52. • Predatory mites
• N. cucumeris mini-sachets
• 1 per pot
• Nematodes
• Weekly until canopy closes
• Biopesticide sprays
• BotaniGard
• Met52 EC
Finishing
Pots at final spacing, canopy not touching
Courtesy Vineland Research

53. Finishing
Canopy touching
• Many switch to swirskii mini-sachets
• May be able to reduce sachets to 1 per 2-3 pots
There are many possible variations on this
basic programCourtesy Vineland Research

54. Strawberry IPM system — Surrendra Dara, UC Dept of Agriculture
& Natural Resources Cooperative Extension
Another example:

55. Week 1: introduce Dacnusa for leafminers
Week 2: early in week, Beauveria for thrips
late in week, apply fungicides
Week 4: Apply predaceous mites
Apply Beauveria
Week 6-8: Spray Beauveria weekly
Apply Bt for lepidoptera, as needed
Apply cinnamaldehyde (cinnamon oil)
only to mite “hotspots”
Week 8: Introduce Diglyphus for leafminers
IPM with microbial
in chrysanthemums
And this program was designed by a farmer

56. So, what should we be doing?

57. March 19-22, 2018 Baltimore MD USA
https://ipmsymposium.org/2018/

59. Thank you !