Sustainable adjuvants for biological pesticides

Monday, May 1, 2023

12:00 PM – 12:20 PM MDT

Room: 406

Presenting Author(s)

DO

Dean Oester, PhD

Manager, AgChem Additives Development
BASF (cincinnati, Ohio)
Cincinnati, OH, United States

Co-Author(s)

TA

Timothy Anderson

Senior Scientist
BASF Corporation
Cincinnati, Ohio, United States
dR

david Rodriguez

Scientist
BASF Corporation
Tarrytown, New York, United States
AC

Andrew Chiromo

Technician
BASF Corporation
Cincinnati, Ohio, United States

Abstract: Sustainable agriculture has become a mega trend that is guiding innovation in every aspect of agronomic, from the sourcing and characteristics of the biocides to the supply chain and physical properties of the inert ingredients to the practices used by growers to apply and manage crop protection products. Biological pesticides have grown in use and are a focus of development as the pressures on synthetic pesticides mount across the globe. Biopesticides suffer from a number of limitations, one of which is lower activity against the target pest when compared to a synthetic pesticide. Our laboratories have adopted screening protocols that can be used to identify chemistries that are compatible with biopesticides and can then be evaluated to increase the efficacy of the biopesticide. The selection of adjuvants can be guided by sustainability targets, such as biobased C content, biodegradability and reduced labeling requirements as well as the ability of adjuvants to meet the needs of Organic Farming Practices.

Field trials with a commercial Bacillus sp. biofungicide controls strawberry gray mold by 56% while a commercial synthetic pesticide labeled for gray mold provides 86% control. When an adjuvant blend (BABL 1) was applied with the Bacillus sp. biofungicide, the control of strawberry gray mold was increased to 92%, a result statistically equivalent to that of the synthetic pesticide. In another trial, Bacillus sp. biofungicide gave 56% control on spinach Downy Mildew, while a treatment regiment of seven synthetic fungicides gave 99% control of the pathogen. The addition of the adjuvant blend (BABL 1) with the Bacillus sp. biofungicide gave 90% control of the pathogen on spinach, statistically equivalent to the synthetic fungicide regiment. Adjuvants can improve the performance of biopesticides while meeting sustainability targets.