Crop Protection Chemicals Research Articles

Vestaron gets cash for biopesticides

Kalamazoo, Michigan–based Vestaron has closed a $40 million series B financing round led by Novo Holdings, parent company of Novo Nordisk and Novozymes. Vestaron develops biopesticides based on peptides found in spider venom. The start-up says they could prove to be environmentally friendly alternatives to synthetic crop protection chemicals. The company thus far has two products: one for greenhouse pests such as thrips, whiteflies, aphids, and mites and another for lepidopterans such as moths.

Sustainable Amine Synthesis: Iron Catalyzed Reactions of Hydrosilanes with Imines, Amides, Nitroarenes and Nitriles

AbstractIron catalyzed organic synthesis has emerged as a sustainable chemistry due to the highly competitive cost, high natural abundance and ecologically acceptable properties of iron. Moreover, its extensive range of oxidation states i. e. –II to +VI provides numerous opportunities to perform multiple organic reactions. Recently iron catalysis has started competing the established precious metals. Among organic scaffolds, amines are important building blocks that are useful in the various fields starting from drugs, crop protection chemicals to dyes and pigments. Typically, hydrogenation or reduction of functional groups such as imines, amides, nitroarenes and nitriles results into amines. In this context, homogeneous iron catalyzed hydrosilylation is a highly promising alternative to traditional hydrogenation and other reduction reactions. This review is focused on the synthesis of amine and its derivatives via hydrosilylation of imines, amides, nitroarenes and nitriles using iron as a catalyst. Some of the reduction methods of these functional groups that may not follow the typical hydrosilylation pathway are also included in this review due to their strong relevance to the theme. The phenomenal progress in this focused area is summarized to witness this transformation towards sustainable development in the field of amine synthesis.

Corteva and DuPont split from DowDuPont

The DowDuPont era has come to an end. Corteva Agriscience has separated from DowDuPont, and the remaining entity is being recast as DuPont. Corteva combines the crop protection chemical and seed businesses of Dow Chemical and DuPont, which merged in 2017 to form DowDuPont. The businesses that make up Corteva had sales of $14.3 billion in 2018. Some 56% of these sales came from seeds; the balance was derived from crop protection chemicals. DowDuPont shareholders received one share of Corteva for every three shares of DowDuPont they owned. It began trading on the New York Stock Exchange on June 3 under the ticker symbol CTVA. “Today marks the launch of a new kind of agriculture company, well positioned to compete and win by providing farmers the complete solution they need for sustainable, long-term growth and improved profitability,” said Corteva CEO Jim Collins, marking the occasion. DuPont has four business segments

Business Roundup

BUSINESS Business Roundup ShareShare onFacebookTwitterWechatLinked InRedditEmail C&EN, 2019, 97 (10), p 21March 11, 2019Cite this:C&EN 97, 10, 21AbstractDuPont will spend $220 million to expand production of Kapton polyimide film and Pyralux laminated circuit board materials at its Circleville, Ohio, facility. The new capacity will come on line in 2021 to supply consumer electronics, telecommunication, defense, and automotive customers. OCI, a fertilizer and methanol producer with plants in the US, Europe, and Africa, says it has been approached by a firm interested in buying its methanol business. Published reports say the Saudi company Sabic is interested in the business. J.M. Huber will acquire Miller Chemical & Fertilizer from Dunes Point Capital. Miller, based in Hanover, Pennsylvania, has 100 employees and makes crop-protection chemicals, fertilizers, and other horticultural products. Carbon Engineering, a Canadian developer of a chemical method for capturing CO2 from the atmosphere, has received a $6 million investment from the mining company BHP. Carbon Engineering recently won investments from Chevron and Occidental Petroleum. Celanese plans to addView: PDF | Full Text HTML

Ефективність застосування хімічних засобів захисту рослин у сільському господарстві

Ефективність застосування хімічних засобів захисту рослин у сільському господарстві

Crop Protection Discovery: Is Being the First Best?

Current crop protection chemicals span an array of chemistry classes and modes of action. Typically, within each chemistry class, there are multiple chemically distinct active ingredients competing with each other for market position. In this competition, the first product to market in a new class or mode of action may or may not have an advantage depending upon a number of parameters, including relative efficacy against the target pests, pest resistance, regulatory pressures, synthetic complexity, and marketing effectiveness. The number of companies involved in the discovery of new crop protection compounds has been declining, and patenting strategies have become more sophisticated, making it more challenging to break into an existing area of chemistry. One result is new classes of chemistry tend to be smaller, making first to market more beneficial than in the past. Additionally, the first into a market with a new class of chemistry has the opportunity to set positioning and expectations.

Plant fibers for renewable growing media: Potential of defibration, acidification or inoculation with biocontrol fungi to reduce the N drawdown and plant pathogens

Plant fibers allow for the partial replacement of peat in growing media and have potential to carry and sustain biocontrol organisms. However, they may also carry plant pathogens and they may vary in their degree of biodegradability and their interaction with N, and in this way thus affect the quality of growing media.We tested 3 types of plant fibers (flax, miscanthus and reed) for replacement of peat in growing media. In order to (1) kill plant pathogens present on the plant fibers, (2) reduce the N fixation risk of the fibers and (3) provide fibers serving as carrier of biocontrol fungi, various defibration techniques were tested, including extrusion, retruding, disc refining and steam explosion.Flax shives obtained from various sources were naturally colonized by viable microsclerotia of the plant pathogen Verticillium dahliae. When sufficiently high temperatures were reached during defibration, this technique killed the plant pathogen on the shives.Untreated flax shives, miscanthus or reed straw were characterized by high N immobilization and thus reduce N availability for plants if used as growing medium. We found a clear positive correlation between the risk for N immobilization versus pH, the hemicellulose content and water-extractable C concentration of the fiber.Unlike peat, defibrated pure miscanthus, reed straw and flax shives were easily colonized by fungal biocontrol strains. Inoculation of extruded miscanthus fibers with biocontrol fungi did not increase nor decrease the N immobilization. Reducing the pH of the fibers was effective in reducing the microbial activity and the N fixation.Defibrated plant fibers have potential for peat replacement and as carrier for biocontrol fungi. Peat replacement is important in relation to the circular economy, climate change mitigation (prevention of carbon loss and greenhouse gas emissions) and the conservation of fragile ecosystems. Successful application of biocontrol fungi may reduce the need for using chemical crop protection agents in horticulture.

Effects of hydrodynamic conditions and temperature on polar organic chemical integrative sampling rates.

The effects of changing hydrodynamic conditions and changing temperatures on polar organic chemical integrative sampler (POCIS) sampling rates (Rs ) were investigated for 12 crop protection chemicals. Exposure concentration was held constant in each laboratory experiment, and flow velocities were calculated from measured mass transfer coefficients of the water boundary layer near the surface of POCIS devices. At a given temperature Rs generally increased by a factor of 2 to 5 between a stagnant condition and higher flow velocities (6-21 cm/s), but Rs for most compounds was essentially constant between the higher flow velocities. When temperature was varied between 8 and 39 °C for a given flow condition, Rs increased linearly. In general, Rs increased by a factor of 2 to 4 and 2 to 8 over this temperature range under flow and stagnant conditions, respectively. An Arrhenius model was used to describe the dependence of POCIS sampling rates on temperature. Adjustments of Rs for temperature did not fully explain observed differences between time-weighted average concentrations of atrazine determined from POCIS and from composite water sampling in a field setting, suggesting that the effects of other competing factors still need to be evaluated. Environ Toxicol Chem 2018;37:2331-2339. © 2018 SETAC.

EVALUATION OF THE IMPACT OF DYKE ON THE PRACTICE OF USING PLANT PROTECTION CHEMICALS AND THE ENVIRONMENT IMPACT QUOTATION INDEX OF RICE CULTIVATION AREAS IN THAP MUOI, DONG THAP PROVINCE

This report presents the result of a survey to evaluate the use of crop protection chemicals (pesticides – HCBVTV) in rice-growing areas with dyke, semi-dyke and no embankment based on interview result with 112 interviewers such as farmers, agricultural specialists, and pesticide dealers in Thap Muoi District, Dong Thap Province and pesticide usage data recorded by three selected framers in 3 different dyke systems. It showed that dyke practice affects the use of pesticides of farmers. After dykes constructed, the pesticides used were more diverse, with higher dosage compared to before having embankments. The report also evaluates the risk of using pesticides through Environmental Impact Quotient (EIQ) index. It showed that areas with dyke and semi-dyke have much higher EIQ index than areas without embankment, 167, 145 and 54, respectively.

The importance of trifluoromethyl pyridines in crop protection.

The pyridine ring, substituted by a trifluoromethyl substituent has been successfully incorporated into molecules with useful biological properties. During the period 1990 to September 2017, 14 crop protection products bearing a trifluoromethyl pyridine have been commercialized or proposed for an ISO common name, covering fungicides, herbicides, insecticides and nematicides. Chemical processes have been developed to provide trifluoromethyl pyridine intermediates, from non-fluorinated pyridine starting materials, at scale and with affordable costs of goods. These attractive starting materials were readily adopted by research chemists, and elaborated through simple chemical modifications into new active ingredients. In a second approach, substituted trifluoromethyl pyridine rings have been constructed from acyclic, trifluoromethyl starting materials, which again has served to identify new active ingredients. Molecular matched pair analysis reveals subtle, yet important differences in physicochemical and agronomic properties of trifluoromethyl pyridines compared with the phenyl analogues. This review focuses on the past 27 years, seeking to identify reasons behind the success of such research programmes, and inspire the search for new crop protection chemicals containing the trifluoromethyl pyridine ring. © 2017 Society of Chemical Industry.

Integrating chemical control with sterile insect releases in an integrated pest management programme for Thaumatotibia leucotreta

AbstractFalse codling moth Thaumatotibia leucotreta (Meyrick) (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae) is an important indigenous pest of citrus in southern Africa. Successful control is dependent upon integration of area‐wide sterile insect releases and other suppression methods. The aim of this work was to test pyrethroid and organophosphate‐based insecticides (tau‐fluvalinate and chlorpyrifos) for their residual effect on mortality of released irradiated T. leucotreta male moths. Both of these insecticides were effective in killing irradiated T. leucotreta for 7 days after application on leaves, after which degradation of the active ingredient resulted in a marked reduction in efficacy after 14 days and rendering them harmless. Mortality was found to be similar for irradiated and non‐irradiated male T. leucotreta after treatment. Consequently, even though these insecticides might have an effect on moths in the field, ratios of sterile:wild moths should not be altered. Supporting field data from six sites in the Sundays River Valley over a season of sterile insect releases showed the conventional chemical crop protection programme to be as effective as an integrated pest management programme in facilitating effective control of T. leucotreta through sterile insect releases. The study also confirmed that the ratios of sterile:wild male moths in the commercial citrus orchards were not affected by the application of insecticides. These findings confirm the high potential of sterile insect releases for control of T. leucotreta in citrus.

Herbicide discovery in light of rapidly spreading resistance and ever-increasing regulatory hurdles.

According to the United Nations, the global population is expected to grow to almost 10 billion people in 2050. This means that the demand for food, feed and fiber will double while at the same time, agriculture is being challenged by a scarcity of water, global warming, less land available for farming, protection of natural habitats, a demand for biodiversity on farms and other factors. In addition, crop protection products are under pressure from rapidly spreading resistance and increasing regulatory requirements. Many regulatory bodies are also moving away from a risk assessment approach to a more hazard-based approach to grant registrations. Nevertheless, chemical crop protection compounds remain attractive and necessary to combat pests, particularly weeds. Industry has increased its efforts to find new molecules that are highly biologically effective on target species, including resistant populations, but safe for non-target organisms. To manage resistance in the future, a diverse toolbox is needed that includes herbicides with a variety of different chemistries and modes of action, combined with non-chemical measures in integrated systems. However, discovering a herbicide and getting it registered and to the market is an extremely complex endeavor full of risk, much of it incalculable. © 2017 Society of Chemical Industry.

Seeds for the Future = Challenges for Potato

The quality of seed potatoes is of paramount importance. The Netherlands and France are important seed potato exporters. In France, seed potato production is a well-organised and economically important sector in which genetic crop improvement and advancement of seed health are crucial objectives. There are strong debates in France on the use of new breeding techniques, which require special skills, equipment, facilities and investments, but which are not always accepted by the general public. The seed potato sector should prepare itself for a situation in which pests and diseases will adapt themselves to global change. Moreover, pests and diseases may thrive under the reduced use of chemical crop protectants. In this regard, it is essential to assess which multiplication techniques will have a better future: are we going to grow potatoes on the basis of seed potato schemes or on the basis of true potato seed? At the same time, there are many national and international changes in legislation about seed production. The seed potato sector must prepare itself for a diverse set of changes in a very dynamic world.

Fungal Glucosylceramide-Specific Camelid Single Domain Antibodies Are Characterized by Broad Spectrum Antifungal Activity

Chemical crop protection is widely used to control plant diseases. However, the adverse effects of pesticide use on human health and environment, resistance development and the impact of regulatory requirements on the crop protection market urges the agrochemical industry to explore innovative and alternative approaches. In that context, we demonstrate here the potential of camelid single domain antibodies (VHHs) generated against fungal glucosylceramides (fGlcCer), important pathogenicity factors. To this end, llamas were immunized with purified fGlcCer and a mixture of mycelium and spores of the fungus Botrytis cinerea, one of the most important plant pathogenic fungi. The llama immune repertoire was subsequently cloned in a phage display vector to generate a library with a diversity of at least 108 different clones. This library was incubated with fGlcCer to identify phages that bind to fGlcCer, and VHHs that specifically bound fGlcCer but not mammalian or plant-derived GlcCer were selected. They were shown to inhibit the growth of B. cinerea in vitro, with VHH 41D01 having the highest antifungal activity. Moreover, VHH 41D01 could reduce disease symptoms induced by B. cinerea when sprayed on tomato leaves. Based on all these data, anti-fGlcCer VHHs show the potential to be used as an alternative approach to combat fungal plant diseases.

Conventional tillage decreases the abundance and biomass of earthworms and alters their community structure in a global meta-analysis.

The adoption of less intensive soil cultivation practices is expected to increase earthworm populations and their contributions to ecosystem functioning. However, conflicting results have been reported on the effects of tillage intensity on earthworm populations, attributed in narrative reviews to site-dependent differences in soil properties, climatic conditions and agronomic operations (e.g. fertilization, residue management and chemical crop protection). We present a quantitative review based on a global meta-analysis, using paired observations from 165 publications performed over 65years (1950-2016) across 40 countries on five continents, to elucidate this long-standing unresolved issue. Results showed that disturbing the soil less (e.g. no-tillage and conservation agriculture [CA]) significantly increased earthworm abundance (mean increase of 137% and 127%, respectively) and biomass (196% and 101%, respectively) compared to when the soil is inverted by conventional ploughing. Earthworm population responses were more pronounced when the soil had been under reduced tillage (RT) for a long time (>10years), in warm temperate zones with fine-textured soils, and in soils with higher clay contents (>35%) and low pH (<5.5). Furthermore, retaining organic harvest residues amplified this positive response to RT, whereas the use of the herbicide glyphosate did not significantly affect earthworm population responses to RT. Additional meta-analyses confirmed that epigeic and, more importantly, the bigger-sized anecic earthworms were the most sensitive ecological groups to conventional tillage. In particular, the deep burrower Lumbricus terrestris exhibited the strongest positive response to RT, increasing in abundance by 124% more than the overall mean of all 13 species analysed individually. The restoration of these two important ecological groups of earthworms and their burrowing, feeding and casting activities under various forms of RT will ensure the provision of ecosystem functions such as soil structure maintenance and nutrient cycling by "nature's plough."

Investor questions DowDuPont split

Activist investor and large Dow Chemical shareholder Daniel S. Loeb thinks he has a better way to break DowDuPont into separate firms than what Dow and DuPont are planning. He estimates his plan would unlock $20 billion in shareholder value. Dow and DuPont expect to form DowDuPont in August. The company would then split up into three separate firms about 18 months later. As currently planned, a materials science firm will house plastics businesses from both companies, Dow petrochemical operations, Dow specialty chemicals such as coatings materials, and the former Dow Corning silicones business. A specialty products firm will inherit electronic materials from both firms as well as DuPont’s safety and protection, nutrition and health, and industrial biosciences units. A third firm will combine crop protection chemicals and seeds businesses. Loeb’s investment firm, Third Point, released a presentation on May 24 outlining an alternative way to break up the companies.

HISTORY AND PRESENT-DAY REALITIES OF THE BOTANICAL GARDEN OF DANYLO HALYTSKY LVIV NATIONAL MEDICAL UNIVERSITY

Botanical gardens play an important role in saving and enriching biological diversity of urban areas in Lviv, The Botanical Garden of Danylo Halytsky Lviv National Medical University with its narrow specialization in medicinal plants in particular. But there are still some figures and facts that require thorough study. Therefore the study aims at examining of the background and history of foundation and also describing the features of operation of the Botanical Garden of Danylo Halytsky Lviv National Medical University. The authors' purpose was also to study the figure of Professor T.F. Wilchynskyi and his contribution to the development of science and Botanical Garden; identify the reasons of creating the "garden of medicinal plants", changes and amendments of modern botanical garden, especially of its territorial location and the uniqueness of the facility; explain the difficulties in the work. The study has got certain results. Firstly, the figure of Professor Tadeusz Wilchynskyi and his contribution to the creation and development of the Botanical Garden of Danylo Halytsky Lviv National Medical University as a whole are described. Modern tasks of botanical garden activity are also described. On the base of the cartographic method of research scheme of regressive dynamics area "garden of medicinal plants" are presented, its territorial location is characterized. The basic elements of uniqueness object are described; difficulties in his work are clarified and the ways of their solution are presented. These difficulties are considered to be as follows. First of all, the absence in the staff of scientific employers makes it impossible to fully organize the conduct of research work. Secondly, the use of grown medicinal plants in the botanical garden and harvesting of medicinal plants in the experiments prevents the use of herbicides and crop protection chemicals. Thirdly, complete absence of mechanized equipment requires significant manual labour and reduces the efficiency of working time. Thus, the authors have concluded that despite the certain difficulties in the work the staff of the Botanical Garden, we should continue the work of T.F. Wilchynskyi on the preservation and enrichment of his collections. In comparing with the initial objectives that were treated to the "garden of medicinal plants" modern tasks enable an introduction of new medicinal species and develop agricultural techniques of cultivation. The Botanical Garden is an example of creating collections of medicinal plant species.

English

Despite growth in Rwanda&rsquo;s agricultural production ability, with food crops representing 33% of the National GDP and 80% of the population reliant on agriculture, food supply remains fragile. A factor which has significant impact on productivity is soil pests, whose effects filter through the whole value chain. Poor yields result in demand that exceeds supply, leading to higher food prices and reduced affordability by the poor. Poor quality products result in lower consumer acceptability and short shelf life. Rwandan farmers have limited access to plant protection products. A survey of farmers conducted in 2008 revealed that only 16% of the households use pesticides and few use other products for soil pest control. This paper examined the existing vegetable production situation, major soil pests for vegetables and the needs of the farmers in respect to soil pests&rsquo; management in Rwanda in 2014. From interviews of 110 vegetable farmers and 18 key informants, it was established that the main vegetable crops were cassava, beans, Irish potatoes and cabbages. The main method for vegetable production was intercropping. Production of vegetables was not intensive as evidenced by the limited use of high value inputs such as fertilizers and crop protection chemicals. The vegetable production constraints starting from the most serious were insect pests, diseases, lack of high quality seeds, high cost of pesticides and fertilizers. The key insect pests were white grubs, cutworms, termites and bean fly. Most of the farmers (76%) did not control the insect pests due to lack of knowledge, lack of alternative methods for pest management and high cost of pest control products especially the chemical pesticides. Chemical pesticides were reported as the main control method by 55% of those who controlled insect pests. This translates to only 13% of the farmers reporting use of chemical pesticides to control insect pests. This represents a 3% decline in the already low (16%) use of chemical pesticides to control insect pests. Conversely, pest infestation levels have been increasing over time. Diversification of the pest control methods is therefore warranted and has indeed been lauded as a key approach to improving pest control. Biologically-based crop protection technology using entomopathogenic nematodes is critical for improving insect pest control. This is due to the possibility of the technology being maintained over a large area without major efforts on the part of the already financially resource poor farmers. Facilitating access to information about the sources of the biologically-based insect pest control technology can enhance diversification of the insect control methods. &nbsp; Key words: Soil pests, biological control, crop protection, entomopathogenic nematodes.

Metabolic Diversity and Novelties in the Oomycetes.

The eukaryotic microbes called oomycetes include many important saprophytes and pathogens, with the latter exhibiting necrotrophy, biotrophy, or obligate biotrophy. Understanding oomycete metabolism is fundamental to understanding these lifestyles. Genome mining and biochemical studies have shown that oomycetes, which belong to the kingdom Stramenopila, secrete suites of carbohydrate- and protein-degrading enzymes adapted to their environmental niches and produce unusual lipids and energy storage compounds. Despite having limited secondary metabolism, many oomycetes make chemicals for communicating within their species or with their hosts. Horizontal and endosymbiotic gene transfer events have diversified oomycete metabolism, resulting in biochemical pathways that often depart from standard textbook descriptions by amalgamating enzymes from multiple sources. Gene fusions and duplications have further shaped the composition and expression of the enzymes. Current research is helping us learn how oomycetes interact with host and environment, understand eukaryotic diversity and evolution, and identify targets for drugs and crop protection chemicals.

Review of the published exposure data to pesticides for residents and bystanders, and for environmental risk assessment: Final report

Review of the published exposure data to pesticides for residents and bystanders, and for environmental risk assessment: Final report