{"id":2020,"date":"2022-04-28T10:20:44","date_gmt":"2022-04-28T10:20:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/horizon.peachpuff-wolverine-566518.hostingersite.com\/?p=2020"},"modified":"2022-05-02T10:23:09","modified_gmt":"2022-05-02T10:23:09","slug":"organic-pesticides-to-provide-natural-protection-for-endangered-crops","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/2020\/organic-pesticides-to-provide-natural-protection-for-endangered-crops\/","title":{"rendered":"Organic pesticides to provide natural protection for endangered crops"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Some vitally important European crops like vines and olives are being devastated by disease. Scientists are searching for biological replacements for chemical pesticides to improve crop and human health.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The threat to agriculture from invasive species is huge. The United Nations (UN) estimates that plant disease costs the world\u2019s economy over \u20ac200 billion per year, with 20-40% of crop production lost to pests.<\/p>\n

\u2018The economic loss from invasive species is immense, and if we took no action, there would be a huge amount of food insecurity, not only across the EU but across the globe,\u2019 said Dr. Hikmate Abriouel, professor of microbiology at Universidad de Ja\u00e9n in Spain\u2019s Andaluc\u00eda.<\/p>\n

With the stakes so high, it\u2019s easy to understand why the agricultural sector is one of the largest users of chemicals worldwide.<\/p>\n

The question of food security is uppermost these days. But, as Dr. Abriouel goes on to explain, our growing reluctance to use chemicals in agriculture adds a layer of complication to farming.<\/p>\n

\u2018There was a time when it was normal to rely on powerful pesticides to treat agricultural land,\u2019 she said. \u2018But now we know that a chemical designed to kill a living organism is likely to have negative impacts on other biological systems too.\u2019<\/p>\n

Spraying crops with synthetic compounds has adverse impacts on people, farm animals, wildlife, pollinators like bees and other living things that play an essential role in the ecosystem. The chemical runoff also damages the land and water.<\/p>\n

Pollution risk<\/strong><\/p>\n

Pesticide pollution causes risk to farmland from the chemical residues that leach into water supplies.<\/p>\n

Some synthetic pesticides have been linked to human diseases like cancer, diseases of the immune system and respiratory illnesses.<\/p>\n

Farmers who work with pesticides are particularly vulnerable to side-effects, with\u00a0an estimated 44% of farm workers<\/a>\u00a0worldwide experiencing at least one\u00a0incident of acute pesticide poisoning<\/a>\u00a0every year.<\/p>\n

The EU\u2019s\u00a0Farm to Fork (F2F) strategy<\/a>\u00a0for sustainable food production targets significant reductions in the use of chemical pesticides, fertilisers and antimicrobials and supports an increase in organic farming. Sustainability goals mean biopesticides or biological alternatives to pesticides are required.<\/p>\n

\u2018There is a lot of evidence that replacing chemicals with biopesticides works with nature rather than against it,\u2019 said Dr. Abriouel. Biological solutions benefit soil health and biodiversity too.<\/p>\n

Dying vines<\/strong><\/p>\n

In France alone, around 12% of vineyards were unproductive between 2012 and 2017 due to Grape Trunk Disease (GTD) which has been spreading across Europe over the past two decades.\u00a0A chemical pesticide used to treat vines was banned because it is harmful to human and environmental health.<\/p>\n

The disease results in 50% less productive plants, a decrease in the quality of the wine and the premature death of healthy vines. Worldwide, estimates for the replacement cost of grapevines exceed \u20ac1.4 billion per year.<\/p>\n

As a response to this blight, the EU is funding the multinational\u00a0BIOBESTicide project<\/a>\u00a0which aims to find a biological solution to GTD.<\/p>\n

\u2018Our aim is to produce a really effective, totally natural preventive solution to this very serious and very expensive problem,\u2019 said Dr. Assia Dreux-Zigha who works for the French biotechnology company Greencell and is coordinating the\u00a0BIOBESTicide research<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The team’s research is focused on a specific strain of Pythium oligandrum \u2013 a \u2018friendly\u2019 fungus that is naturally present in the rhizosphere of many crop plants, including vines. The rhizosphere is the microorganism-rich region of soil directly around a plant\u2019s roots.<\/p>\n

P. oligandrum works both by destroying parasites directly and by inducing plant resistance against further attack. After isolating P. oligandrum in the lab, Greencell and its partners found that under certain conditions, the biopesticide colonised the roots of vines and stimulated the plant\u2019s natural defences against GTD.<\/p>\n

In the near future, following trials and safety approval, the BIOBESTicide researchers aim to scale up and field-test their biopesticide in vineyards across different geographical areas.<\/p>\n

\u2018This is a very challenging project but, when we finish in late-2023, we hope to have a solution that will make it possible for vine plants to survive for their entire natural lifecycles,\u2019 said Dr. Dreux-Zigha.<\/p>\n

Undoubtedly, winemakers will raise a glass to this prospect.<\/p>\n

Olive preserver<\/strong><\/p>\n

A second iconic European crop urgently in need of a biopesticide solution is the olive. First detected in European olives in 2013, Olive Quick Decline Syndrome (OQDS) is the disease caused by the bacterium Xylella fastidiosa.<\/p>\n

In Puglia, southern Italy, where Xylella first surfaced on the continent, olive production shrank by 65-80% in the years up to 2020 with the loss of an estimated 100 000 jobs and the destruction of 400-year-old heritage olive trees.<\/p>\n

Xylella has surfaced in France, Spain and Portugal, spread by an insect called the spittlebug. Affected plants are infected from the roots upwards, causing the leaves to turn brown and eventually killing the plant. It is considered one of the most dangerous plant pathogenic bacteria in the world.<\/p>\n

\u2018The problem with this pathogen is getting worse,\u2019 said Dr. Abriouel, who supervises the EU-backed SMART-AGRI-SPORE project, which aims to develop a biopesticide based on bacterial spores.<\/p>\n

\u2018Preventing further spread of this pest is a priority in the EU,\u2019 she said. A 2020 study estimated that as a worst-case scenario, Italy alone stands to lose between \u20ac1.9 billion and \u20ac5.2 billion over a 50-year period as a result of OQDS.<\/p>\n

A number of projects are developing biopesticides to attack Xylella. Principal researcher Dr. Julia Manetsberger under the supervision of Dr. Abriouel is focused on modifying a strain of another bacteria to render it deadly to Xylella.<\/p>\n

The researchers are hopeful that by 2024, a viable biopesticide will emerge from this research.<\/p>\n

\u2018We can\u2019t use something against Xylella that changes the biodiversity or destroys or increases the resistance of microorganisms present in other plants and soil,\u2019 said Dr. Abriouel. \u2018In other words, we can\u2019t solve one problem and create another.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018We are working hard to reach this objective,\u2019 said Dr. Manetsberger, \u2018These plants are so important for our economy and we need to defend them.\u2019<\/p>\n

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The research in this article was funded by the EU. If you liked this article, please consider sharing it on social media.<\/h5>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Some vitally important European crops like vines and olives are being devastated by disease. Scientists are searching for biological replacements for chemical pesticides to improve crop and human health.   The threat to agriculture from invasive species is huge. The United Nations (UN) estimates that plant disease costs the world\u2019s economy over \u20ac200 billion per … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":298,"featured_media":2021,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"generate_page_header":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2020","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nOrganic pesticides to provide natural protection for endangered crops - Horizon Magazine Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/2020\/organic-pesticides-to-provide-natural-protection-for-endangered-crops\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Organic pesticides to provide natural protection for endangered crops\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Some vitally important European crops like vines and olives are being devastated by disease. 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