Tokyo, Japan
June 24, 2014

Arysta LifeScience Japan recently launched its latest microbial insecticide, PIRATES® GR, to help control thrips, a problem pest in many crops including eggplant, cucumbers and green peppers. The active ingredient in PIRATES GR, Metarhizium anisopliae, is a naturally grown fungus in soils throughout the world that causes disease and ultimately the death of a wide range of insects, including thrips. PIRATES GR represents the first pesticide registration of Metarhizium in Japan.

“Thrips are regarded as one of the key pests in the development of pesticide resistance,” explained Zenjiro Nakamura, Product Manager, Arysta LifeScience. “At Arysta LifeScience, we have been promoting biological control programs so that growers don’t need to rely only on chemical pesticides. We now have several biological products in our portfolio that control thrips at different life stages.”

PIRATES GR is a granular formulation. There is no need to prepare a spray solution; it is applied by sprinkling the granules onto the surface of the soil. Metarhizium then infects the pupae of the thrips on the soil.

Additionally, grains of rice serve as carriers of PIRATES GR. Generally, pathogenic insects like Metarhizium cannot maintain their high populations without a host. In the case of PIRATES GR, the rice grains absorb moisture from the soil and serve as a nutrient source for Metarhizium growth. As a result the Metarhizium can survive and breed even if it does not immediately make contact with the larvae or pupae of thrips.

The Arysta LifeScience portfolio of biological products for thrips control also includes:

• Foliar: SWIRSKI® (Amblyseius swirskii) eats young larvae.
• Plant foot: PIRATES® infects larvae and pupae.
• Above-plant and foliar: sticky trap HORIVER® can reduce the population of flying adult thrips.
• Spot application: microbial insecticides MYCOTAL® and BOTANIGARD®.

Field studies with PIRATES GR are underway for future label expansions to include additional insects and crops.

Website: http://www.arystalifescience.com

Published: June 27, 2014