History, Use, and Future of Microbial Insecticides

Abstract

ALTHOUGH MICROBIAL INSECTICIDES account for <1% of the total insecticide market, microbial control of insect pests is gaining in importance. This is because of the improved performance and cost competitiveness of microbials in addition to increasing arthropod resistance to chemical insecticides, environmental concerns, and lack of development of new insecticidal chemistries. The use of microbial insecticides is growing at a rapid pace of 10–25% per year compared with chemical insecticides at 1–2% per year. Bacillus thuringiensis Berliner is primarily responsible for this growth. Microbial pest control agents including plants genetically engineered to produce pesticidal chemicals represent the largest number of recent registrations obtained by industry. Currently there are 20 microbial pesticides registered with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) (Table 1). Since 1984, EPA has reviewed 44 applications for small-scale field testing of genetically modified microbial pesticides. Since 1986, EPA has reviewed 40 applications for small-scale field testing of transgenic pesticidal plants.