New weapon against Tuta absoluta unveiled by Russell IPM
Online, October 10, 2009 (Newswire.com) - Flintshire based Bio-rational firm Russell IPM has unveiled a new a weapon in the fight against the dangerous tomato pest Tuta absoluta. The newly introduced pest has already devastated substantial part of this year's production of Tomato around the Mediterranean countries and contributed to a hike in tomato prices in the second part of 2009. The pest also managed to affect a number of greenhouses in England, Netherland and Switzerland.
The new product is capable of entrapping thousands of male insects a night in addition to substantial number of the female population causing a major disturbance to the mating pattern and subsequent decline in the pest population, hence reducing crop damage without use of insecticide.
The product is based on the newly discovered synergy between the insect sex pheromone and a particular light frequency to which the insect is most attracted. The discovery was made by the company's R& D team while they were studying the mating behaviour of Tuta absoluta in Greenhouses in Southern Spain and Morocco.
Russell IPM already supplies the Mediterranean region with the majority of its needs of pheromones for the monitoring and mass trapping of Tuta absoluta. "The new discovery will underpin our efforts in the field of mass trapping of Tuta absoluta by improving the effectiveness of the standard pheromone trap by 200-300% in most cases ", commented Dr Shakir Al-Zaidi, the Managing director of Russell IPM.
Ferolite-TUA, the new product, which targets the Tomato leaf miner Tuta absoluta, incorporates both sex pheromone and a light source in a particular wavelength. It will be a self contained unit powered by solar energy. The solar based unit will extend the reach of this technology to remote farms which normally has no access to main power supply.
Ferolite-TUA is pre-programmed to operate during part of the night when the insect is most active. This feature makes it very specific to trap Tuta absoluta while missing all other insects including beneficial insects which normally are not active during that time window and also are not sensitive to that particular wavelength emitted by the system.
The product has already been shortlisted for Horti Fair Innovation Award for 2009. Russell IPM is the only UK Company which is short listed to this prestigious award in 15 years.
Background
Tuta absoluta is a very challenging pest to control. Effectiveness of chemical control is limited by both the insect's way of living as well as its rapid capability of development of insecticide resistant strains. The use of biological factors are still largely under development and not ready to combat this pest effectively and in a cost effective way. The newly introduced pest from south America finding the shores of the Mediterranean a perfect new home where it can breed between 10-12 generation a year. Each female can lay 250-300 eggs in her life time. The speed at which the pest is crossing boarders and devastating key staple food such as tomato is taking every body by surprise with very little options available to farmers to fight for their livelihood. It also affect potato among other crops. Further details on Tuta absoluta is available on www.tutaabsoluta.com
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