MYCOINSECTICIDES AND MYCOACARICIDES IN BRAZIL: HOW ARE WE AFTER FOUR DECADES?

ABSTRACT

Mycoinsecticides and mycoacaricides can be defined as biopesticide products based on living propagules of entomopathogenic fungi developed for inundative and inoculative biological control of insects and mites. Based on recently published data on global use of entomopathogenic fungi and a proposal for standardizing the definitions of mycopesticide formulations, the present work had two main objectives: 1) to analyze the state of the art of Brazilian mycopesticides (mycoinsecticides and mycoacaricides) compared to products already developed worldwide and, 2) fit Brazilian products based on entomopathogenic fungi into this new classification. In 2007, 40 products were available in the Brazilian market and, approximately, 19 companies under operation. Most Brazilian mycopesticides are not registered; 2.5% of the products are commercialized as technical material (conidial powders), 72.5% correspond to technical concentrates (liquid or solid fungus-colonized substrates) and only 25% are, indeed, formulations, all of them oil dispersions. The opposite situation takes place in industrialized countries, in which registered and formulated products are more common. In Brazil, usually the control efficiency delivered by mycopesticides has not been able to meet user’s expectations on a regular basis, and inconsistency in field trials from site to site and year to year has imposed limitations for a broader adoption of mycopesticides. In Brazil, although technological advances following 40 years of research were lower than expected, there is an expectation of increasing demand for entomopathogenic fungi due to emergent market niches.

KEY WORDS
Entomopathogenic fungi; formulations; microbial control; augmentation; IPM