The agriculture is under a pressing need for alternatives to insecticides for pest control. The ban of three neonicotinoids used as insecticides was settled in 2018 by the European Union. At the same time, agricultural productivity needs to rise to provide sufficient nutritious food for a growing population. Moreover, a recent study predicts an increase in global yield losses of rice, maize and wheat by 10-25% per degree of global mean surface warming due to increased population growth and metabolic rates of insects.
Pheromones, which are naturally produced by different insect species, represent a health- and environment-friendly alternative to insecticides. Dispensing small amounts of sex pheromones in the fields or orchards confuses males, preventing mating and hence larvae formation. This method is called “mating disruption”.
Pheromones are attractive, because they are biodegradable, species-specific compounds, which neither harm beneficial species nor humans. Nevertheless, pheromones are still not widely used, mainly because of the high costs of synthetic pheromones, labor-intensive application of pheromone dispensers, and lack of knowledge on efficacy of pheromone release methods.
This project, entitled “Pheromones for ecologically friendly pest control in fruit orchards (EcoFruit)”, aimed at the sustainable and cost-efficient production of insect pheromones by fermentation in engineered oleaginous yeasts. The specific focus of EcoFruit was the sex pheromone of the codling moth Cydia pomonella. The pheromone is called codlemone and has the formula E8,E10-dodecadien-1-ol. Availability of lower-cost pheromone will promote its use and will support the development of a long-term sustainable and efficient agricultural sector.
