Physical Chemistry and Soft Matter, Agrotechnology & Food Sciences Group, Wageningen University & Research, Wageningen WK 6700, The Netherlands.
Department of Above-Belowground Interactions Group, Institute of Biology, Leiden University, Leiden BE 2333, The Netherlands.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2024 May 21;121(21):e2321565121. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2321565121. Epub 2024 May 13.
With a continuous increase in world population and food production, chemical pesticide use is growing accordingly, yet unsustainably. As chemical pesticides are harmful to the environment and developmental resistance in pests is increasing, a sustainable and effective pesticide alternative is needed. Inspired by nature, we mimic one defense strategy of plants, glandular trichomes, to shift away from using chemical pesticides by moving toward a physical immobilization strategy via adhesive particles. Through controlled oxidation of a biobased starting material, triglyceride oils, an adhesive material is created while monitoring the reactive intermediates. After being milled into particles, nanoindentation shows these particles to be adhesive even at low contact forces. A suspension of particles is then sprayed and found to be effective at immobilizing a target pest, thrips, . Small arthropod pests, like thrips, can cause crop damage through virus transfer, which is prevented by their immobilization. We show that through a scalable fabrication process, biosourced materials can be used to create an effective, sustainable physical pesticide.
随着世界人口和粮食产量的持续增长，化学农药的使用也相应增加，但这种增长是不可持续的。由于化学农药对环境有害，害虫的抗药性也在不断增强，因此需要一种可持续且有效的农药替代品。受自然启发，我们模仿了植物的一种防御策略——腺毛，通过使用粘性颗粒来实现物理固定策略，从而摆脱对化学农药的依赖。通过对生物基起始原料——甘油三酯油的可控氧化，在监测反应中间体的同时，生成一种粘性材料。将其研磨成颗粒后，纳米压痕实验表明，即使在低接触力下，这些颗粒也具有粘性。然后将颗粒悬浮液喷洒出去，发现它能有效地固定目标害虫——蓟马。像蓟马这样的小型节肢动物害虫会通过病毒传播造成作物损害，而通过固定它们可以防止这种损害。我们表明，通过可扩展的制造工艺，可以使用生物基材料来创建一种有效且可持续的物理农药。
