Improving the cost-effectiveness, trade and safety of biological control for agricultural insect pests using nuclear techniques

Abstract If appropriately applied, biological control offers one of the most promising, environmentally sound, and sustainable control tactics for arthropod pests and weeds for application as part of an integrated pest management (IPM) approach. Public support for biological control as one of the preferred methods of managing non-indigenous and indigenous pests is increasing in many countries. An FAO/IAEA Coordinated Research Project (CRP) addressed constraints related to costly production systems for biological control agents, and the presence of accompanying pest organisms during their shipment. These constraints can be alleviated using nuclear techniques such as ionizing radiation or X-rays to reduce production and handling costs (e.g., by expanding the period of host suitability, increasing shelf life, avoiding unnecessary sorting steps before shipment, etc.), and to eliminate the risk of shipping fertile host or prey pest individuals or other hitchhiking pests. These nuclear techniques can also help to reduce the risks associated with the introduction of exotic biological control agents, which can become pests of non-target organisms if not carefully screened under semi-natural or natural conditions. Radiation is also a very useful tool to study host-parasitoid physiological interactions, such as host immune responses, by suppressing defensive reactions of natural or factitious hosts. Applied at a very low-dose, radiation may be used to stimulate reproduction of some entomophagous insects. Additionally, radiation can be applied to semi- or completely sterilize hosts or prey for deployment in the field to increase the initial survival and build-up of natural or released biological control agents in advance of seasonal pest population build-up. Finally, the work carried out under this CRP has demonstrated the feasibility of integrating augmentative and sterile insect releases in area-wide IPM programmes, and to utilise by-products from insect mass-rearing facilities in augmentative biological control programmes. This special issue provides an overview of the research results of the CRP.