Biopesticide Information > Section 5: Biopesticide Development

Biopesticides or natural pesticides are reduced-risk products derived or developed from biological or naturally derived chemistry. Biopesticides offer value to users by providing a combination of both effective performance and product safety. Biopesticides perform efficaciously while providing the flexibility of minimum application restrictions, superior residue and resistance management potential, and human and environmental safety benefits.

Some of the unique features and benefits of biopesticides include:

• the ability to provide alternative modes of action to traditional products which makes them a critical component in most IPM programs;
• registration in less time than conventional chemical products because biopesticides exhibit minimal impact on the environment and humans;
• the ability to extend the life of conventional chemicals by providing resistance management benefits in agricultural programs;
• exemption from tolerances, such as reduced preharvest restrictions and application in environmentally sensitive areas, which permits biopesticides that have no Maximum Residue Levels (MRLs) to be used on crops intended for export and in urban settings;
• a high degree of worker safety and the shortest reentry intervals allowed by law;
• value-added benefits, such as improved plant health, yields and quality and an increase in beneficials, in both traditional and organic cultivation programs.

Biopesticides can be used in almost any crop production program because of they offer unique modes of action and have low impact on the environment and human health. They are especially suited for use in:

• Rotation with chemicals in traditional programs to manage for pesticide resistance.
• Certified organic production systems.
• Grower programs where pesticide residue management is important for harvest management and/or export markets.
• Crops with intensive labor demands to gain maximum flexibility in managing work crews.

In order for growers, applicators and pest control advisors to recognize the full potential of biopesticides, education is critical to ensure their proper use. Users must work closely with manufacturer's representatives and/or the product's dealer/distributor to determine the proper application timing and frequency; the most effective application methods to ensure complete crop coverage; target pest identification; and pest/disease pressure and life cycle dynamics.

Because the mode of action of a biopesticide is different from that of a conventional pesticide, the way to determine the product's effectiveness is also different. The best way to measure the effectiveness of a biopesticide product is not only through field performance trials that measure number of pests or amount of leaf spots, but through marketable yield and quality of the edible or final product.

Marketable yield should be one of the most important measures of performance of a product used on fruit, vegetable and nut crops. However, the level of pest or disease control is usually the standard of the measure for determining product effectiveness that is used in performance trials. In a standard performance trial in which a stand-alone biopesticide product is compared strictly to a conventional chemical to determine disease/pest control effectiveness, the chemically treated plot may show fewer pests or leaf spots per plot than the plot treated with a biopesticide product. While the biopesticide trial plots may have higher incidences of diseases or pests than conventionally treated plots, the use of biopesticides often increases marketable yield by working synergistically with chemical pesticides to enhance control, by permitting timely reentry intervals and by the ability to be used close to harvest. Therefore, it is important to test and evaluate biopesticides based on trials that are true reflections of grower practices and programs. Stand-alone university trials are useful to gauge the performance of a product but growers rarely use pesticides stand alone. Therefore, it is critical to incorporate biopesticides into trials and programs in which biopesticides, like conventional pesticides, are tank mixed and rotated.

Such trials are a key component to the development of products from Marrone Bio Innovations (MBI) and other biopesticide companies. The product discovery and development process begins, however, when the company finds new microorganisms isolated from samples collected in unique niches and habitats, like flowers, insects, bark, composts, etc., from around the world.

This approach to natural product discovery is well validated. Drug companies have been finding and commercializing new drugs derived from natural sources (plants and microorganisms), for decades. Such drugs include antibiotics (streptomycin, penicillin, etc.), taxol from the Pacific Yew for cancer treatment, aspirin from a similar compound in willow bark, digitalis and quinine.

While more than 50 percent of human drugs are from natural sources, only 11 percent of pesticides are derived from natural sources. Examples are spinosad insecticide from Dow and avermectin miticide from Syngenta, purified compounds fermented from different microorganisms, Bacillus thuringiensis insecticides from Valent Bioscience and Certis USA, and Bacillus subtilis and B. pumilus biofungicides by AgraQuest marketed as Serenade®, Rhapsody®, Sonata® and Ballad®.

At MBI, soil and other natural samples are collected; microorganisms are isolated on Petri dishes; then put through a screening process to test against insects, mites, plant pathogens, nematodes and weeds. These naturally occurring microorganisms are screened to identify those that may have novel and effective pest management characteristics. Natural product chemistry is employed to analyze and characterize the compound structures produced by selected microorganisms, to ensure there are no toxins, and to identify product candidates for further development and commercialization. Through an efficient process of lab and field testing, fermentation process development, scale-up and formulation, MBI develops the isolates into pest-control products in approximately three years at a cost of approximately $3 million. The development of a new, conventional pesticide, by contrast, may cost at least $180 million and take more than 10 years to discover and develop.

MBI also finds interesting plants and extracts their pesticidal chemistry. These plant extracts are tested against a range of pests, plant pathogens and weeds.

MBI's products, like all biopesticides, require approval from the EPA, which includes toxicological testing against nontarget organisms (rat for acute oral, dermal and inhalation, guinea pig for skin sensitivity, rabbit for eye irrigation, fish, bird, Daphnia, honeybee, lacewing, ladybeetle, and parasitic wasp) to prove their safety. The time for approval is 12 months for ornamentals and turf (nonfood crops) and 18 months for food crops, as governed by the Pesticide Registration Improvement Act (PRIA).

Marrone Bio Innovations is finding success in the area of biopesticide development, due in part, to the reduced cost and development time; the fact that consumers are driving the market toward natural products; and the company's extensive knowledge in how to optimize natural compounds derived from microbes and plants.

MBI has several new products in development, including:

• a microbial insecticide for control of sucking and chewing insects;
• a product, based on a bacterial strain of Pseudomonas fluorescens that selectively kills invasive zebra and quagga mussels;
• a rice herbicide derived from a marine bacterium; and
• a systemic organic herbicide based on bacteria and fungal natural products.

G.	H.
Microorganisms are isolated on Petri dishes	Growing microbes in optimized media
I.	J.
Analyzing chemical structure of active ingredients	Scaling up the fermentation manufacturing process
K.
Field testing a biopesticide product.

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