Botanical repellents and nanotechnology: development of systems for pest control in agriculture

Abstract

The pests and insects, have been a major cause of crop losses worldwide. In Brazil alone these losses may reach 7.7 % per year. The whitefly (Bemisia tabaci) is one of the main pests present in Brazil, being found in many regions. The major concern with this type of pest, is the vast diversity of hosts, leading to losses of 100 % due to pathogens transmission capacity. The use of synthetic insecticides has been the main way to control this kind of pest, however, the adverse effects of these compounds both for the environment and to human health has motivated the search for lower impact alternatives. In this context, various mechanisms have been studied to minimize this damage, such as the development of modified release systems using biodegradable polymers and proteins. Added to this, the action of botanical insecticides and repellents have also demonstrated potential to combat these pests, due to lower impacts of these natural products. Therefore, the present project aims to develop (preparation and characterization) of nanocarriers systems produced from polymers chitosan and zein protein to repellents Botanical (linalool, geraniol and citronellal), as well as the potential effects quote and phytotoxic of these systems. The project also seeks to incorporate these systems into matrices of crosslinked gels in order to produce release of these active devices in the field. In addition they will be made repellent activity tests of these systems and devices against whitefly (Bemisia tabaci) in different cultures: Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum), beans (Phaseolus vulgaris) and soybean (Glycine max). The importance of this project lies in the dimension of the agricultural sector represents for the Brazilian and world economies. Also the crop protection market is growing annually, with Brazil being one of the leaders in the consumption of these products. Thus, the development of technology with high added value to the pest control area in agriculture is promising as more efficient systems can be produced in pest control, less impacting the environment and consequently to human health (AU)