Changing what crop-eating pests consume could significantly reduce their development of resistance to biopesticides, according to a new study by researchers at the University of Stirling.
The findings, published in PLOS Pathogens, suggest that modifying the diets of agricultural pests may help prolong the effectiveness of fungal biopesticides.
The discovery could offer a boost to sustainable farming, reduce overall environmental harm and further global food security if adopted.
Dr Rosie Mangan, a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Stirling, said: “This is a major insight because we have shown the potential for substantial evolutionary changes in surviving exposure to biopesticides - but also that farmers might slow this down by using more diverse cropping systems.
“Understanding how diet influences fungal biopesticides resistance helps inform smarter pest management strategies that are sustainable and less reliant on chemicals.
“Farmers and policymakers could use these findings to design pest control systems that keep biopesticides effective for longer, reducing environmental damage, helping promote agro-ecological biodiversity and improving global food security.
“These insights are especially relevant to agricultural policy in the UK, EU, and other regions where biopesticide use is growing.”
The research focused on the cotton bollworm; a moth species known for damaging crops.
Scientists from Stirling, São Paulo State University in Brazil, and the University of Gothenburg in Sweden raised thousands of larvae on different crops - tomato, maize, and soybean - and exposed them to two fungal pathogens.
They found that a pest's diet had more influence on resistance evolution than switching between biopesticides.
The project combined breeding experiments and statistical modelling and was funded by the UK’s BBSRC and Brazil’s FAPESP through a Newton Fund partnership.
By Glen Barclay