Ecobreves – MEXICO: Studying Fungus as Insecticide

By IPS Correspondents and - - Reprint | | Print |

MEXICO CITY, Jun 30 2008 (IPS) - Mexican scientists are researching different types of fungus that kill harmful insects without hurting the environment. It is a promising alternative to synthetic pesticides, Octavio Loera, head of the Autonomous Metropolitan University's fungus enzymology and molecular biology laboratory, told Tierramérica.

The lab is already working with Beauveria bassiana and Metarhizium anisopliae, but still has to identify others and determine the strength of their useful traits. The fungi degrade and perforate the external shells of insects and introduce deathly toxins.

Loera explained that the entomopathogen (insect-killing) fungi are similar to those that reproduce in decomposing bread. In Mexico, these species are abundant, but only a small portion of those are appropriate for replacing insecticides without affecting the environment.