Biological insecticides efficient alternatives for the control of insect pests in agricultural and horticultural crops

Abstract

This work aimed to evaluate the agronomic effectiveness and practicality of microbiological insecticides in cotton, sugar cane, citrus, beans, tomatoes, coffee, wheat, soybeans and maize crops based on bacteria of the genus Pseudomonas fluorescens Pseudomonas chlororaphis and Bacillus thuringiensis, in the control of insect pests. Experiments were carried out to evaluate biological insecticides in each crop individually. Experiments were carried out in each culture in various environments in the states of MT, MS, SP, MG and PR in Brazil. A randomized block design with four replications was used in all the experiments. Agronomic traits, insect pest incidence and insecticide efficiency were evaluated for each of the crops. A heat map was made to understand the efficiency of insecticides in controlling insect pests in each crop. The linear correlation coefficients between the pairs of characters evaluated were calculated. The use of bacteria of the genus Pseudomonas fluorescens, Pseudomonas chlororaphis and Bacillus thuringiensis to control insect pests is a promising alternative for use alone or in combination with pesticides. The use of azadirachtin is effective for controlling mites in cotton, Diaphorina citri in citrus and moth in tomato.