{"id":3155,"date":"2018-09-20T09:00:53","date_gmt":"2018-09-20T07:00:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.agriculturayensayo.com\/ayewebpage\/?p=3155"},"modified":"2018-09-20T13:12:00","modified_gmt":"2018-09-20T11:12:00","slug":"new-trends-bcas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.agriculturayensayo.com\/ayewebpage\/new-trends-bcas\/","title":{"rendered":"New trends in BCA’s"},"content":{"rendered":"

Biological Control Agents or BCA’s have acquired a great importance in recent years in the field of Plant Protection Products<\/a>. The growing environmental awareness and the search for more efficient measures for farmers have been a catalyst for the development and implementation of them. A consequence of all this is the constant opening of research lines in order to find new biological control agents and improve the action of existing ones.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

A biological control agent (BCA) consists of a living organism whose function is to regulate plant growth through its action against pests and all those pathogens that can harm crops.<\/span><\/p>\n

The advance of the BCAs arises from the need to use a method to control the development of plants different from agrochemicals, since some of this can become toxic and \/ or remain in the environment for a long time due to improper use of them.<\/span><\/p>\n

In addition, some pests have developed resistance to some chemicals, reducing their effectiveness and causing a worrying fall in productivity.<\/span><\/p>\n

TYPES OF BCA’s<\/b><\/h2>\n

We can classify biological control agents according to their method of action on pests.<\/span><\/p>\n

Predators<\/b><\/p>\n

They regulate the growth of the plant by feeding on the pathogen. Most are insectivorous beings that are released by consuming a large number of preys.<\/span><\/p>\n

Parasitoids<\/b><\/p>\n

The modus operandi of these BCA’s is to penetrate the host organism, placing its eggs inside so that the larvae feed on it, eventually ending their lives. They are really effective when the pest is well located within the crops.<\/span><\/p>\n

Pathogens<\/b><\/p>\n

They are microorganisms that infect the host organism. The most important pathogens are bacteria, viruses, fungi and molds.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"BCA\"<\/p>\n

Competitors<\/b><\/p>\n

The introduction of species that compete with pests is another measure that can be effective for regulating plant growth.<\/span><\/p>\n

POSSIBLE RISKS OF BCA’s<\/b><\/h3>\n

The use of biological control agents<\/a> to regulate the growth of crops should be done with great caution, since these can give rise to certain environmental problems that suppose a brake for a greater implementation of these.<\/span><\/p>\n

The most illustrative case of these risks is that in which there is an overpopulation of the species used for biological control, altering the ecological balance of the area. They are mainly problematic, in this sense, vertebrates because they usually have a very varied diet that can be found with some ease in almost any ecosystem.<\/span><\/p>\n

TRENDS IN BCA\u2019s. A CURRENT VISION LOOKING TO THE FUTURE<\/b><\/h2>\n

The current BCA market and its projection from an economic point of view<\/b><\/h3>\n

The market volume of the biological control agents was about 1.55 billion dollars in 2015. According to <\/span>recent studies<\/span><\/a>, this market is expected to grow at a compound annual rate of 13.1% during the period 2015-2022, reaching a value of 3670 million dollars at the end of it.<\/span><\/p>\n

As mentioned above, the growth of the biological control agents market is attributed to the negative impact on the environment of some chemical products used for the control of pests, to which we must add its high price and the desire for a greater efficiency in the results of the harvests.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, there are also factors that pose a burden for an even greater development of BCAs, such as the lack of knowledge about them by many farmers as a result of the use of inadequate communication channels. Despite this, if we look ahead to the future, there is a high potential for growth in the use of biological control agents due to the extensive crop areas available in developing regions.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"BCA\"<\/p>\n

If we analyze the current situation of the biological control agents from a geographical point of view, North America is the main dominator of the same and it is estimated that it will grow with a compound annual rate of 10% during the period 2018-2023.<\/span><\/p>\n

The use and production of BCAs in numbers<\/b><\/h3>\n

It is estimated that the use of BCAs comprises 10% of the cultivated land treating about 165 species of pests. The 25 most commonly used biological control agents\u2019 account for more than 90% of the total global market for crop development regulators. The crops most treated by biological control agents are fruits and vegetables.<\/span><\/p>\n

At this point it is necessary to introduce the concept of <\/span>augmentative biological control<\/span><\/a>, consisting of the large-scale production of biological control agents in “bio-factories” to be later released in the crops to be treated.<\/span><\/p>\n

Thanks to this production method, quality control protocols, industrial production, transport and release methods have been developed, as well as an adequate training of users. The success of augmentative biological control can be demonstrated with cases such as the introduction of predatory mites for the control of thrips pests in Spain.<\/span><\/p>\n

In Europe it is estimated that there are 170 species reared augmentatively, most of them being arthropods (95.2%), except for 11 species (mainly nematodes). Of these arthropods, 4 taxonomic groups are the most important: Hymenoptera (52.2%), Acari (13.1%), Coleoptera (12.2%) and Heteroptera (8.3%).<\/span><\/p>\n

Although, as we mentioned earlier, augmentative biological control has harvested a great success in the regulation of plant growth, there are some factors that slow down in a sensitive way its production:<\/span><\/p>\n