Our country is a large agricultural country. The area affected by crop diseases, insect pests and weeds is about 200 million hectares (times) every year, and it needs to produce and use about 250,000 tons of pesticides (active ingredients) every year.
Biopesticides have the characteristics of wide sources of raw materials, safety to non-target organisms, low toxic and side effects, and good environmental compatibility. They have become a new trend in the development of the global pesticide industry.
1 Production scale
There are currently about 200 biopesticide manufacturers in my country. In 2004, there were 140 varieties of biopesticides active ingredients registered, accounting for 15% of the total active ingredient varieties of pesticides in my country; 411 products, accounting for 8% of registered pesticide products; the annual output is 120,000 to 130,000 tons of preparations, accounting for about 15% of the total pesticide production. 12; The annual output value is about 300 million US dollars, accounting for about 10% of the total pesticide output value, and the use area is about 400 million acres. At present, the number of newly developed and registered biopesticides is increasing at a rate of 4% every year.
The main varieties of biopesticides in my country include Bt pesticides, agricultural antibiotics, botanical pesticides, genetically modified plants, viral pesticides, fungal pesticides, and plant growth regulator pesticides. The bulk products are still Jinggangmycin. Mainly containing Bt and Bt, it is far from developed countries in terms of variety, dosage form, quality and quantity, and is far from meeting the needs of domestic and foreign markets. In the high-tech industrialization demonstration project of the State Planning Commission in 2001, the natural plant-derived insecticide pyrethroid, the "Wuda Oasis" series of bioviral insecticides with an annual output of 6,000 tons, fungal biocontrol preparations, composite live microbial preparations and Five biopesticide projects with an annual output of 5,000 tons of oligosaccharide biopesticides were approved. In 2002, biopesticide projects such as the annual production of 3,000 tons of "Anhui Aolv" series of bioviral pesticides, the annual production of 10,000 tons of Ningnanmycin, nematode biocontrol preparations, and the annual production of 30,000 tons of solid fermented Bt were approved.
2 Domestic and foreign research hotspots and trends
China’s biopesticide research began in the early 1950s. Currently, there are more than 30 scientific research institutes, universities, and colleges in biopesticide research and development. National and ministerial key laboratories, as well as research units with certain working conditions, have established their own systems in resource screening and evaluation of biopesticides, genetic engineering, fermentation engineering, post-production processing and engineering demonstration and verification.
The main development trends of biopesticides are: strategic high-tech competition centered on genetic recombination is becoming increasingly fierce, key technological innovations are significantly accelerating, and the latest molecular biology methods are increasingly being applied to biopesticides research and development In recent years, new varieties of genetically modified biological pesticides are constantly emerging; their research and development and application are developing in a safer and more environmentally friendly direction; product upgrading is accelerating, and the biological pesticide industry has become the most promising development field in the agricultural industry.
By developing new varieties of safe, efficient, environmentally friendly, and multi-functional biopesticides, we will break through the key technologies of biopesticide genetic engineering and fermentation engineering, and improve the preparation and processing, product quality, and environmental behavior of biopesticides. Conduct research on a series of issues to ensure the safety of agricultural products, protect the human ecological environment, and achieve sustainable development of agricultural production.
2.1 Bacterial and viral pesticides
Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) is the main pesticide at home and abroad. Research on Bt pesticides began in my country in the 1950s, with an annual output of about 40,000 tons. However, compared with developed countries, there is still a considerable gap in the fermentation and formulation levels of our products. High-efficiency and broad-spectrum engineering strains have been widely used in foreign production, with high fermentation levels and high fermentation product recovery rates; various dosage forms include powders, wettable powders, suspensions, concentrated water, oil emulsions, emulsifiable concentrates, granules, and tablets , ES (Emulsifiable suspension), sustained release agents, biocoating agents, etc. However, most domestic production strains are Bt Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) k type, and the product dosage forms are only wettable powder and suspension agent; the liquid fermentation process mainly uses batch fermentation technology, and the post-extraction technology uses centrifugal concentration process, resulting in the fermentation liquid A large amount of effective ingredients such as synergistic factors are lost. In addition, my country's current spray drying equipment also restricts the improvement of product recovery rate.
The use of genetic engineering technology to construct Bt engineered fungi with stable efficacy and wide control coverage is a new trend in the development of Bt biopesticides.
Research on insect virus pesticides with sustained control effects on target pests began in the 1970s. The outbreak of cotton bollworm in the last century promoted the development of cotton bollworm nuclear polyhedrosis virus insecticides. Twelve of the 15 viral insecticides registered in my country are bollworm nuclear polyhedrosis virus, which shows that my country currently has a single variety of insect viral insecticides.
New insecticidal microbial preparations: Taking lepidopteran pests such as leaf beetles and beet armyworms as the main control targets, we will conduct research on the development and application of high-efficiency broad-spectrum Bt preparations. Make full use of my country's extremely rich microbial resources to isolate new insect-resistant and disease-resistant protein genes with independent intellectual property rights and important application value. Through insecticidal protein gene combination, molecular evolution, site-directed mutagenesis, fusion, exchange and other molecular design methods of amino acids in different structural domains, we can further improve the insecticidal virulence and expand the insecticidal spectrum.
2.2 Agricultural antibiotics
my country’s agricultural antibiotics account for 90% of the total production of biopesticides, but there are few new agricultural antibiotic varieties with independent intellectual property rights that have been put into practical use. Since the 1990s, some new agricultural resistance varieties with independent intellectual property rights have been screened and reported in China. Among them, insecticidal antibiotics include Taimycin, bactericidal antibiotics include Ningnanmycin, etc. However, currently only Ningnan varieties have been put into practical use. Nanmycin a kind. my country currently has 29 types of insecticidal and bactericidal antibiotic pesticides, 120 products, and about 100 manufacturers, with an annual output of more than 80,000 tons of preparations. China is a major producer of agricultural antibiotics, but it has not yet created an influential new agricultural antibiotic variety. . From a global perspective, the most influential new insecticidal antibiotics Avermectin and herbicidal antibiotic Phthoxazollin were discovered in the 1980s, and the most influential new insecticidal antibiotics Spinosad and bactericidal antibiotic Strobilurin were discovered in the 1990s. Among them, Avermectin was developed by companies such as Merck in the United States and has become the best product in the world. Phthoxazollin has been used as a lead compound to synthesize the best herbicide-glyphosate series; Spinocad and Strobilurin are under development and are expected to become the best products in the world. of biopesticides and fungicides.
The fermentation process of Ningnanmycin registered during my country’s “Ninth Five-Year Plan” needs to be further improved. Zhongshengmycin has significant control effects on various bacterial diseases such as rice bacterial leaf blight. Currently, there are only two types: aqueous agent and wettable powder, which cannot meet the application needs of different crops and different ecological environments.
Develop some highly targeted chemical modification technologies, focusing on transforming the structures of some natural agricultural antibiotics to increase their uses or improve their efficacy; strengthen the research and development of old varieties, and significantly improve Jinggang mold through metabolic engineering The production of Jinggangmycin-producing bacteria, such as nanchangmycin and meilingycin, has exceeded that of existing industrial production strains; through serial knockout of gene clusters, engineering can produce only nanchangmycin or meilingycin. Bacteria; utilize abundant antibiotic gene resources to obtain new active derivative antibiotics through combinatorial biosynthesis. Use fermentation engineering technology to study the fermentation and metabolism rules of agricultural antibiotics, and obtain new processes and new formulation processing techniques that greatly improve the level of fermentation.
In recent years, research on marine microorganisms and insect pathogenic bacteria and intestinal microorganisms has made some progress. These two types of microorganisms in specific habitats can produce specific insecticidal or antibacterial metabolites. The results show that the isocoumarin derivatives produced by Xenorhabdus nematophilum Beijing variant have a good control effect on important diseases such as potato late blight, tomato late blight, and powdery mildew.
2.3 Fungal preparations
Entomopathogenic fungi have great potential to solve the problem of insecticide resistance of pests. Since the late 1980s, more than 40 fungal pesticides have been registered abroad and widely used. Carry out research on the collection of entomopathogenic fungi resources, screening of virulent strains, infection mechanisms of insecticidal fungi, and the use of genetic engineering to transform virulent strains. Through Agrobacterium-mediated transformation of fungi, the cloned protease and chitinase genes that decompose insect shells were introduced into Beauveria bassiana.
Screen recombinant strains that have significantly improved control effects on sucking pests such as aphids. Establish a regulatory system using Ecdysone as an inducer, and screen auxiliary agents that can promote the germination and infection of insecticidal fungal spores at lower humidity and different temperatures and increase the shelf life of insecticidal fungi. Genetic engineering technology has become a highly efficient Methods for breeding insecticidal fungal strains.
Among the insecticidal fungal pesticides, Beauveria bassiana has the longest research history and the largest research team. It is used to control pine caterpillars and corn borers in an area of ??more than 10 million acres every year. The main fungicidal fungicides include Trichoderma wait. Since the discovery of Trichoderma's preventive effect on plant diseases in the 1930s, it has been the fungicide with the most research and the largest application area. Current products mainly use liquid-solid two-phase fermentation to produce conidia. In the late 1990s, the liquid fermentation chlamydospore production process developed in the United States is expected to provide a new way for the industrialization of Trichoderma. Carry out research on the regulatory mechanism of chlamydospores produced by Trichoderma, screen efficient strains such as Paecilomyces basidioides and construct engineering strains, to provide technical support for breakthroughs in fungal fermentation processes.
2.4 New plant activating proteins
Research on protein activators that stimulate plant immunity, disease resistance and increase production has attracted widespread attention and attention at home and abroad. In 2000, Messenger, a pesticide product developed from bacterial allergens by the American company EDEN, was registered in the United States. It was listed as a pesticide product exempt from inspection by the EPA and is allowed to be used on all crops. It is now widely used in tobacco, vegetables and fruits in the United States, Mexico and other countries. In 2004, after approval by the Institute for Pesticide Control of the Ministry of Agriculture (ICAMA), Kangzhuangsu obtained a temporary pesticide registration certificate and was recommended for use on tomatoes, peppers, tobacco and rapeseed in the first batch.
Activator and HarpinXo are currently being developed in China. At present, my country has successfully isolated and obtained multiple plant activator genetic engineering strains. Field trials have shown that activating protein pesticides can prevent a variety of plant viral diseases by 70% and increase yield by more than 10%. In 2004, the results passed the performance appraisal of the Ministry of Agriculture and reached the international advanced level of similar research.
2.5 Biochemistry and new elicitor pesticides
In the 1980s, scholars discovered that chitin and other substances derived from fungi and plant cell walls can activate a variety of signals in plants Transduction pathway, as a new type of biological elicitor (containing oligosaccharides, glycoproteins, polypeptides, fatty acids and other substances), the research and development, production and application of biochemical pesticides have attracted great attention from the foreign scientific and technological circles and international multinational companies. China has abundant resources and R&D advantages in biological elicitors such as oligosaccharides, which should be highly valued. Oligosaccharide biopesticides can not only effectively control tobacco mosaic (control effect 72) and other crop and economic crop diseases, but also The output can be significantly increased by 10 to 30%.
The latest research on insect biochemical (digestive) enzyme inhibitors shows that small molecule proteins and organic fatty acids (hyaluronic acid) have a strong inhibitory effect on insect biochemical (digestive) enzymes, leading to insect death, and also have dual resistance Role of nematodes, fungi, bacteria and viruses.
3 Vigorous development of biopesticides feasibility analysis
(1) Rich biological resources. my country is a country rich in biological resources, possessing 10% of the world's biological genetic resources. According to incomplete statistics, my country has about 260,000 species of animals, plants, and microorganisms, as well as rich human genetic resources that are rare in other countries. At present, my country has more than 300,000 types of crop germplasm materials preserved, ranking first in the world, providing abundant materials for the development of life sciences and biotechnology in my country. This advantage is irreplaceable and exclusive.
(2) Environmental protection and market demand. According to statistics from the Ministry of Agriculture, my country's crop diseases and insect pests occur in an area of ??about 6 billion acres all year round, resulting in 16 million tons of food losses every year, and more than 800,000 tons of chemical pesticide preparations need to be produced and used every year. 80% of them are highly toxic pesticides, causing more than 20% of fruits and vegetables and more than 10% of grains to have pesticide residues exceeding standards.
Therefore, the development of the biopesticide industry is very important to ensure the sustainable development of agriculture, protect people's lives and health, and protect the ecological environment. It will create very favorable conditions for the export of my country's agricultural products and greatly enhance the international competitiveness of my country's agricultural products. my country plans to increase the share of biopesticides in all pesticides from the current 10% to 30% by 2015.
In response to China's entry into the WTO, developed countries have adjusted and raised the technical thresholds for product imports, with agricultural products bearing the brunt of the impact. The EU officially banned the sale of 320 pesticides in the EU on December 31, 2003, involving more than 60 varieties of pesticides produced in China, including 31 types of pesticides, and others including fungicides and herbicides. Such pesticides are not sold in my country. The production volume and scope of use have reached a certain scale. Therefore, the research and development of biopesticides has become a top priority. Its research and development will effectively achieve high-quality and safe production of agricultural products, enhance the economic added value of agricultural products, expand the export market of my country's agricultural and sideline products, and promote the development of the green agricultural industry.
(3) The research team continues to grow. In the field of biopesticide technology, my country has formed a high-level R&D team and a considerable work foundation, and its innovation and development capabilities have been continuously enhanced. At present, our country has more than 30 biopesticide research institutions, about 200 biopesticide production companies, and 20,000 biotechnology R&D personnel. Every year, about 4,600 college students and graduate students majoring in biotechnology join the ranks. In terms of biotechnology research and development, a research team that has begun to take shape and has certain competitiveness has been formed.
(4) Support from government policies. Our government attaches great importance to the development of pollution-free agricultural production technology. In 1996, "China's Agenda 21" included the research and development of biopesticides among the first batch of selected projects. In 1998, the "2116 Project" also included biopesticides, microbial fertilizers, plant growth regulators and microbial degradation preparations in the first batch of major project development plans. China Green Food Development Center and Organic Food Development Center have also been established. Beijing, Fujian and other provinces and cities have established pollution-free production regulations, clearly stipulating that the use of highly toxic and some highly toxic pesticides is prohibited in vegetable production.
4 The development direction of biopesticides in my country and the problems that need to be solved
The share of biopesticides in the entire pesticide industry in my country is quite limited, and there is still a large gap compared with developed countries.
In view of the outstanding difficulties and problems existing in the development of biopesticides in my country, it is recommended that: First, consider its development prospects from the dual perspectives of economic and social benefits, give policy preference to the development of biopesticides, increase research and development funding, Taxes and fees should be reduced or reduced for enterprises, while the use of highly toxic, highly toxic, and high-residue chemical pesticides should be banned or restricted. Second, we should promote the integration of resource advantages and integrated innovation to form a number of large-scale biopesticide companies across the country that have both development capabilities and large-scale production, and gradually form a multi-variety structure biopesticide industry development pattern. Third, enterprises and agricultural technology departments work together to strengthen the technical promotion of biopesticides so that farmers can master the use of biopesticides.