Experts call to promote ethological control of insects

While the use of pesticides dominates the agricultural pest control market in Latin America, in European and Asian countries, ethological management of insects is advancing, that is, the modification or manipulation of the natural behavior of animals to prevent or reduce the damage they cause. cause in the crops.

Therefore, it is important that research advances in the subcontinent. of alternatives more compatible with the environment and human well-beingthey pointed out in an interview with The Day academics from El Colegio de la Frontera Sur who work on the development of traps and the use of pheromones to control various pests.

Edi Álvaro Malo Rivera, specialist in chemical sciences; Julio C. Rojas, master of science in entomology, and Salvador Hernández Moreno, expert in phytosanitary with orientation in entomology and acarology, agreed that If we compare the insecticide business with the use of ethological management techniques for species harmful to crops, the latter does not cover even 8 percent of the needs. Ethological management is a very new field for Latin America and very small, despite the advantages it offers..

From El Colegio de la Frontera Sur (Ecosur) in Tapachula, Chiapas, this triad of researchers has focused on studying the fall armyworm, which affects corn; the fruit fly, which damages the mango, and the agave weevils, harmful to the magueyes of mezcal or tequila.

They consider that deciphering the chemical communication of these species – the process by which, using specific substances, they exchange information to reproduce, locate their food, and avoid predators – is key to developing efficient tactics to regulate them.

Unlike chemicals that affect pollinators, damage soils, contaminate water and leave residues that are harmful to human health, management based on animal behavior is an alternative that is more compatible with the environment and human well-being.they stressed.

Salvador Hernández, also attached to the Metropolitan Autonomous University (UAM-Xochimilco), has focused on investigating the control of the fly that damages mango fruit through trapping, a technique used to monitor and reduce its population.

Its main contribution is having modernized the trap model created in 1992 to attract and capture adult specimens.

He states that based on research that considered the stages of development of the mango, the anatomy of the human hand, the stimuli to which the insect responds, the environmental conditions and the criteria of industrial design, a model was created.

The new trap has shown favorable results compared to the previous one, since in addition to being more effective in catching flies, it is more ergonomiche explains.

It specifies that in an agricultural crop more than 500 hooks can be installed, depending on the extension, and so it is important that it is resistant and adapted to the anatomy of the hand.

Meanwhile, Malo Rivera’s current object of study is to control the fall armyworm in corn plantations, through the use of the pheromones they produce in their mating phase.

The compounds of this substance were identified in 1984, in the United States, and their work allowed us to find variability in the components of the populations in Mexico.

This discovery allowed us to formulate our own mixture of pheromones to regulate the pest in regions of our country.comments.

He added that the application of this compound in mass trapping reduces damage to plantations, allowing good crop yields, even better than with the application of insecticides.

In turn, Julio Rojas is dedicated to studying the chemical communication of insects and in recent years to observing agave weevils.

These specimens were not a problem for our country, but with the rise of tequila production and the large areas of agave that began to be planted, they became a pest.he points out.

A very serious problem with tequila or mezcal plants is that the use of pesticides is dangerous for human health. For this reason, the specialist began to investigate the chemical communication of these animals until identifying a pheromone produced by the male that allows their population management.

For Rojas, the study of agave weevils is an example of the importance of chemical ecology laboratories in Mexico, because its control is only important here, and if there are specialized people, the country can identify the compounds and design control strategies; Otherwise, you depend on the foreigner.

Another example, he returned, is the case of the fall armyworm. You can buy pheromones from the United States, but when you put them in the country they do not work because there are geographical variations in the populations.

Malo Rivera, Julio C. Rojas and Hernández Moreno highlighted that in the face of the increase in demand for agricultural products, in particular, the increase in the request for chemical-free foods, research on insect management without pesticides has become relevant.