The Use and Exchange of Biological Control Agents for Food and Agriculture

The report sets out to summarize the past and current situation regarding the practice of biologicalcontrol inrelationtothe use and exchange of genetic resources relevant for BCAs.It considers the twomain categories of biological control:classical and augmentative.Allowing access to BCAs for use inanother country imposes no risk of liability to the source country.Local scientific knowledge abouthabitats,fauna andflora,can be

Influence of process control agents on the performance of Ni_3Al by mechanical alloying

The influence of process control agents （PCAs） on the mechanical properties of Ni3AI intermetallic compounds by mechanical alloying was investigated in order to develop oxide deposition reinforced intermetallics. The PCAs in mechanical alloying were pure ligroin, 75 vol.% ligroin ＋ 25 vol.% alcohol, 50 vol.% ligroin ＋ 50 vol.% alcohol, 25 vol.% ligroin ＋ 75 vol.% alcohol, and pure alcohol. The normal composition is Ni-22.9at.%Al-0.5at.%B, the ball-to-powder weight ratio is 10：1, and the milling time is 30 min. Then, the powders were sintered by spark plasma sintering under 40 MPa for 5 min at 1000℃. The results show that a higher bending strength and a higher hardness were obtained when the PCAs were 75% ligroin ＋ 25% alcohol in mechanical alloying. The bending strength is about 2700 MPa and the hardness （HV） is more than 6 GPa.

Secondary Metabolites of Entomopathogenic Fungi, Biological Alternative for the Control of Agricultural Pests and Disease: Present and Perspectives

The use of entomopathogenic fungi (EF) in recent years has been highly effective against the different orders of insects considered pests of agricultural importance and their conidia have been commonly applied, but it has been reported that these are sensitive to the environmental conditions. For this reason, biopesticides products have been formulated based on secondary metabolites, recently. These biomolecules participate as biological control agent, such as: cyclic depsipeptides, amino acids, polyketides, polyphenols and terpenoids, affecting their morphology, life cycle and insect behavior. The use of secondary metabolites of entomopathogenic fungi opens the possibility of application in a more efficient way for the control of agricultural pests in a compatible with the environment and human health;therefore, it is important to know, analyzing the type of molecules, their effects, and their different methods of application.

Fire Blight Disease Caused by Erwinia amylovora on Rosaceae Plants in Kyrgyzstan and Biological Agents to Control This Disease

Erwinia amylovora species were isolated from the blossoms, exudates, infected fruits, leaves and bent branches of diseased apple, pear and hawthorn trees, selected in the Chy, Osh and Jalal Abad regions. Biochemical and pathogenicity tests, alongside PCR analyses, were conducted to identify the local isolates of Erwinia amylovora. The alternative antagonistic microorganisms which combat bacterium E. amylovora were tested within in vitro and in vivo conditions. The results revealed the ability of Streptomyces antagonistic bacteria to decrease fire blight severity on pear and apple trees during the first stage of the fire blight disease in leaf tissues. Streptomyces strain C1-4 suppressed E. amylovora disease symptoms in the leaf tissues and excised apple and pear shoots. The incidence of fire blight on leaves was reduced by about 70% with two applications of bacterial antagonists. Further studies at different locations in Kyrgyzstan, using large scale application, would allow for stronger recommendations to be made, including studies and recommendations on their ability to prevent disease and to use them as main components in an integrated pest management program.

Screening of Chemical Agents for Controlling Spodoptera frugiperda in Corn Fields of Panmao Township,Yunnan Province

[Objectives]The paper was to effectively prevent and control the damage of Spodoptera frugiperda and to screen effective agents.[Methods]The block test of drug control was carried out,and the insect pest situation was investigated five times.[Results]150 mL/hm^(2) of 5%emamectin benzoate+600 mL/hm 2 of 5%lufenuron had better comprehensive control effect on S.frugiperda,and the corn yield reached 10100.55 kg/hm^(2).[Conclusions]The study provides a basis for scientific control of S.frugiperda.

Performance Analysis of a Profile Control Agent for Waste Drilling Fluid Treatment

A method for the treatment of hazardous waste drilling fluids,potentially leading to environmental pollution,is considered.The waste drilling fluid is treated with an inorganic flocculant,an organic flocculant,and a pH regulator.The profile control agent consists of partially hydrolyzed polyacrylamide,formaldehyde,hexamethylenetetramine,resorcinol,phenol,and the treated waste drilling fluid itself.For a waste drilling fluid concentration of 2500 mg/L,the gelling time of the profile control agent is 25 h,and the gelling strength is 32,000 mPa.s.Compared with the profile control agent prepared by recirculated water under the same conditions,the present profile control agent displays better stability,salt-resistance,and performance.

Preliminary Study on Control Effects of Five Kinds of Fungicides against Wheat Scab

[Objective] This paper was to improve the current status that the fungicide carbendazim as the single agent was largely applied in the control against wheat scab. [ Method] Five kinds of fungicides on sales and new agents against wheat scab were selected for field trials. [ Result] 25% JS399 - 19 SC, 30% te- buconazoh · thiram WP, 75% trifloxystrobin · tebuconasole WDG and 10% ZJ0712 JG could effectively control wheat scab, and the control effects of one time or two times application were better than control agent carbendasim; the control efficacy of two times application was improved in different degrees against one time ap- vlication. [ Conclusion] The naner vrevided basis for the control atminst wheat scab.

Study of Water Treatment Residue Used as a Profile Control Agent

A large amount of residue from the water treatment process has gradually accumulated and thus caused serious environmental pollution in waterflood oilfields. The water treatment residue is a grey suspension, with a density of 1.08 g/cm^3, and mainly contains over 65% of light CaCO3, MgCO3, CaSO4, Fe2S3 and Ca（OH）2. This paper ascertains the effect of water treatment residue on core permeability and its application in oilfields. Coreflooding tests in laboratory were conducted in two artificial cores and one natural core. Core changes were evaluated by cast model image analysis, mercury injection method and scanning electron microscopy （SEM）. Fresh water was injected into another natural core, which was plugged with water treatment residue, to determine the effective life. The results indicate that the water treatment residue has a strongly plugging capability, a resistance to erosion and a long effective life, and thus it can be used as a cheap raw material for profile control. In the past 8 years, a total of 60,164 m^3 of water treatment residue has been used for profile control of 151 well treatments, with a success ratio of 98% and an effective ratio of 83.2%. In the field tests, the profile control agent increased both starting pressure and injection pressure of injectors, and decreased the apparent water injectivity coefficient, significantly improving intake profiles and lengthening average service life of injectors. 28,381 tons of additional oil were recovered from these corresponding oil wells, with economic benefits of ￥3,069.55×10^4 （RMB） and a remarkable input-output ratio of 8.6：1.

Hierarchical robot control structure and Newton's divided difference approach to robot path planning

A hierarchical robot control is proposed for robot soccer system. The Newton’s divided difference is utilized in robot path planning. This paper describes the problems encoutered, software design considerations, vision algorithm and controls of individual robots. The solutions to the problems implemented are simple and direct. It is observed that many of the ideas and solutions can be evolved based on simple theories and concepts. This paper focuses on software structure of multi agent controls, vision algorithm and simple path planning method.

Barnyardgrass control with agent of actinomycetes

Species of actinomycetes were collected andisolated from soil samples which were pickedfrom vegetable field,park land,and forest inHangzhou,Zhejiang Province.They were in-oculated in 250 ml flasks each containing 50 mlliquid medium and fermented on a rotary shak-er at 28℃.The agents for actinomycetes wereobtained seven days later.Four species of acti-nomycetes were selected through biological as-say.Experiments were conducted in the

Rice(Oryza sativa L.)plant protection using dual biological control and plant growth-promoting agents:Current scenarios and future prospects

Various microorganisms live in association with different parts of plants and can be harmful,neutral,or beneficial to plant health.Some microbial inhabitants of plants can control plant diseases by contesting with,predating on,or antagonizing plant pathogens and by inducing systems for plant defense.A range of methods,including plant growth-promoting microorganisms(PGPMs)as biological control agents(BCAs)(BCA-PGPMs)are used for the biological management and control of plant pathogens.Some BCAs interact with plants by inducing resistance or priming plants without direct interaction with the pathogen.Other BCAs operate via nutrient competition or other mechanisms to modulate the growth conditions for the pathogen.Generally,PGPMs can be applied alone or together with other chemicals or carriers to control various crop diseases.This review highlights the effective types of BCA-PGPMs and their applications,roles,carrier based-formulations,and responses to rice(Oryza sativa L.)pathogens.Future plant disease management prospects are promising,and growers’increasing demand for BCA-PGPM products can be exploited as an effective approach to the management of plant diseases,as well as to improve yield,environmental protection,biological resources,and agricultural system sustainability.

Productivity effect and overuse of pesticide in crop production in China

Chinese farmers are often accused of overusing pesticides that play a crucial role in enhancing crop yield by reducing losses to crop pests. Pesticide overuse has caused a series of negative health and environmental externalities. This paper quantiifes the productivity effect and the optimal amount of pesticides in rice, cotton and maize production in China from the economic perspective. Using survey data col ected in 2012 and 2013, both Cobb-Douglas and Weibul damage control speciifcations are used to estimate the production function. Results show that pesticides have statistical y signiifcant pro-ductivity effect on crop yield. On the condition of Weibul damage control speciifcations, the marginal products of 1 kg of the active ingredients of pesticides for rice, cotton and maize are 71.06, 22.73 and 98.45 kg, respectively. However, 57, 64 and 17%of the actual amount of pesticides are overused for rice, cotton and maize, respectively. Moreover, the productivity effect of pesticides would be overestimated using Cobb-Douglas speciifcation without incorporating a damage control agent.

A Study about Fe-Ni Mechanical Alloying Process by Dry and Wet Method

The evolutions of microstructure of Fe0.85Ni0.15 products, which were prepared by mechanical alloying (MA) with and without process control agent (PCA), were studied using X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy respectively. After MA without PCA (dry method) for 30h, Fe0.85Ni0.15 nanocrystalline alloy powders with bcc-Fe(Ni) phase were obtained; however, powders milled with PCA (wet method) from 20 to 90 h, were unalloyed Fe-Ni mixtures with balanced morphology. It seems that dry method works efficiently in nanocrystalline alloying while wet method postpones MA but functionally fines the morphology of materials. Finally, the results were discussed considering the MA kinetics.

Evaluation of Cuban Bacillus thuringiensis(Berliner,1911)(Bacillales:Bacillacea)isolates with larvicidal activity against Aedes aegypti(Linnaeus,1762)(Diptera:Culicidae)

Objective:To evaluate 11 Cuban native Bacillus(B.)thuringiensis isolates in order to select one with the best larvicidal activity against Aedes(Ae.)aegypti and low cytotoxicity.Methods:The cry and cyt genes of the isolates(A21,A51,L95,L910,M29,R84,R85,R87,R89,U81 and X48)were amplified by PCR.The influence of organic matter and NaCl on the larvicidal activity was tested by bioassays.Cytotoxicity was assayed on peritoneal macrophages of BALB/c mice.Results:The cyt1(Aa,Ab,Ba),cyt2,cry4aA,cry4Ba,cry11(Aa,Ba,Bb)and cry10 genes were identified in all native Cuban isolates.The larvicidal activity(LC_(90))of seven isolates was affected by the presence of organic matter in the water,while A21,A51,L910,R84,U81 and X48 had better LC_(50),LC_(90),LC_(95) than the 266/29-Ⅶ-98 control strain.The LC_(50) of two isolates was affected by the presence of NaCl and A21,A51,R85 isolate had better larvicidal activity than the 266/29-Ⅶ-98 control strain.In terms of toxicity against macrophages,the extracts of nine isolates were less cytotoxic than the control strains.Conclusions:Native isolate A21 had the main virulence factors against Ae.aegypti larvae,displayed a good larvicidal activity in presence of different factors related with Ae.aegypti breeding sites,and had low citotoxicity against macrophages.These results can contribute to the improvement of existing biological control strategies and the development of new biolarvicides.

Analyses of Numerical Responses and Main Life Parameters for Determining the Suppression of Amblyseius cucumeris on Panonychus citri

In this paper, the numeral response and main parameters of experimental population life table were analyzed for determining the suppressing ability of Amblyseius cucumeris on Panonychus citri. The result showed that: (1) Under 21-31°C and 1 - 9 prey densities/leaf fragment condition, the prey consumptions of A. cucumeris increased with the temperature or prey density; (2) In 1:3 predator-prey ratio treatment, the suppression of P. citri (Ro=34.0053; T=19.4369; t=3.8204) was rather weak, it was enhanced as the ratio over 5:30, and the populations of P. citri in these treatments can be fully controlled within 4-5 days; (3) Under 25±1°C, 80-85% RH and 15L: 9D illumination conditions, the net reproductive rate, mean generation duration and the time for population double increase of P. citri (Ro=34.0053; T=19.4369; t=3.8204) were higher than those of A. cucumeris (Ro=21.8750; T=16.8943; t=3.7954). While the intrinsic rate of increase and finite rate of increase of the former (rm=0.1814; λ=1.1989) were lower than those of the latter (rm=0.1826; λ=1.2004). These results indicated that A. cucumeris is a desirable bio-control agent to suppress P. citri at lower population stage in citrus orchard.

Microwave absorption performance of FeCoNiAlCr_(0.9)alloy powders by adjusting the amount of process control agent

Different amounts of absolute ethanol(0-50 mL)are used as process control agents(PCA)to prepare FeCoNiAlCr0.9 high entropy alloy(HEA)powders via 90 h ball milling.The results show that the increased amount of PCA plays an active role in the crystallinity of powders,and regulate the thickness and size distribution of flake particles.As the volume of PCA increases,the real and imaginary parts(ε′andε″)of complex permittivity get increased by the enhancement of the interface polarization and surface polarization,while the increase in the real and imaginary parts(μ′andμ″)of complex permeability arises from the increased anisotropic energy.The addition of PCA not only promotes the reflection loss but also extends the effective bandwidth(up to 4.28 GHz).Here,the performance adjustment of HEA electromagnetic absorber is realized by forthrightly changing the process parameters of ball milling.

Nanowires-assembled WO3 nanomesh for fast detection of ppb-level NO2 at low temperature

Hierarchical WO3 nanomesh,assembled from single-crystalline WO3 nanowires,is prepared via a hydrothermal method using thiourea(Tu)as the morphology-controlling agent.Formation of the hierarchical architecture comprising of WO3 nanowires takes place via Ostwald ripening mechanism with the growth orientation.The sensor based on WO3 nanomesh has good electrical conductivity and is therefore suitable as NO2 sensing material.The WO3 nanomesh sensor exhibited high response,short response and recovery time,and excellent selectivity towards ppb-level NO2 at low temperature of 160℃.The superior gas performance of the sensor was attributed to the high-purity hexagonal WO3 with high specific surface area,which gives rise to enhanced surface adsorption sites for gas adsorption.The electron depletion theory was used for explaining the NO2-sensing mechanism by the gas adsorption/desorption and charge transfer happened on the surface of WO3 nanomesh.

Repellent effects of pongam oil on settlement and oviposition of the common greenhouse whitefly Trialeurodes vaporariorum on chrysanthemum

The repellent activities, including host deterrence and anti-oviposion, of pongam oil against the adults of the common greenhouse whitefly Trialeurodes vaporariorum Westwood in greenhouses were tested. Chrysanthemum plants treated with different concentrations （0.5%-2.0%） of water-suspended pongam oil showed relatively long-lasting host deterrent and anti-oviposition effects on the adults of greenhouse whitefly. Although the repellent effect declined in time and concentration, strong effects on the reduction of oviposition were found, which lasts, dependent on concentration at least 12 days after application.

Roles of polyacrylate dispersant in the synthesis of well-dispersed BaSO_4 nanoparticles by simple precipitation

Well-dispersed BaSO4 nanoparticles were synthesized in the presence of sodium polyacrylate （PAAS） by a simple precipitation method, with BaCl2 and （NH4）2SO4 as reactants. The different roles performed by PAAS in the synthesis of BaSO4 nanoparticles were investigated using X-ray diffractometry, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and transmission electron microscopy. The results indicate that the assynthesized BaSO4 nanoparticles were spheres with an average diameter of 30 nm and that their surfaces were affected by the PAAS. Under a typical procedure employed, PAAS reacted with BaCl2 to yield an intermediate, serving as a control releasing agent and separating the nucleation and crystal growth processes of the BaSO4 nuclei. During formation of the BaSO4 nanospheres, the intermediate slowly dissolved and released barium and polyacrylate ions, inhibiting the growth and aggregation of newly formed BaSO4 seeds and resulting in particles of narrow diameter distribution and improved dispersibility. Moreover, these polyacrylate ions further modified the surfaces of the BaSO4 nanoparticles.