New Green Pesticide Can Increase Income and Reduce Expenditure by 4.3 Billion Yuan

        In recent years, the pace of pesticide development has been continuously accelerating, with new pesticides constantly emerging. It has been learned that new green pesticides can increase income and reduce expenditure by 4.3 billion yuan.

In the recently announced 2014 National Science and Technology Awards, a green biological pesticide——a new natural anthraquinone compound agricultural fungicide——developed by the team of Yu Dazhao of the Hubei Academy of Agricultural Sciences won the second prize of the National Science and Technology Progress Award. It is understood that this new biological pesticide achieves a disease prevention effect on crops of over 90%, superior to chemical pesticides, and “vegetables and fruits can be eaten the next day after spraying.” At present, the cumulative application area of this pesticide has exceeded 20 million mu, with increased income and reduced expenditure reaching 4.3 billion yuan.

The new natural anthraquinone compound agricultural fungicide is a biological pesticide that uses rhubarb and other Polygonaceae plants as basic raw materials. As early as 2000, Yu Dazhao, president of the Hubei Academy of Agricultural Sciences, and his team began research on plant-derived fungicides. According to Yu Dazhao, the team first studied powdery mildew, sheath blight, verticillium wilt, anthracnose and other diseases of grains, vegetables and cash crops, isolating and purifying from 63 plant species in 34 families to obtain a large number of secondary metabolites with fungicidal activity. They confirmed for the first time that 15 natural anthraquinone compounds have activity against plant pathogenic fungi, among which 12 substances including physcion had excellent activity.

Next, however, they faced a major challenge. Biological pesticides also need to be sprayed, so their formulations must be soluble in water. However, anthraquinone compounds such as physcion have extremely poor water solubility, making it technically difficult to process them into aqueous formulations. Ultimately, through innovative formulation processing techniques and the addition of inorganic co-solvents, the anthraquinone compounds were made completely soluble in water, which not only ensured their activity was fully exerted but also greatly improved the fungicidal effect, while avoiding the use of toxic organic solvents, ensuring the formulation's environmentally friendly and low-toxicity characteristics.

In 2008, the pesticide obtained a temporary new pesticide registration certificate from the Ministry of Agriculture, and in 2013 it obtained a formal registration certificate. In 2008, the Hubei Provincial Department of Science and Technology organized relevant experts to conduct a results appraisal of the project. The experts unanimously agreed that the results had reached the international advanced level. In the same year, it won the first prize of the Hubei Provincial Technology Invention Award.

Compared with conventional chemical pesticides, the new natural anthraquinone compound fungicide requires less dosage, but its disease prevention effect reaches over 90%, and the disease prevention effect is stable. Moreover, it is safe, non-toxic and residue-free for users, can effectively reduce the amount of chemical pesticides used, ensures the safety of vegetable production, and can reduce environmental pollution. Precisely because its disease prevention effect is superior to commonly used chemical fungicides, this pesticide has been included in the National Spark Program as a product for promotion and has obtained EU ECOCERT organic certification. In this way, it can be widely used in agricultural product export bases, meeting the requirements of developed countries for minimum pesticide residue limits in agricultural products, and has a promoting effect on China's agricultural product exports.

Since its promotion began in 2008, this pesticide has cumulatively produced over 1,770 tons, of which more than 500 tons have been exported to countries including Italy, Israel, South Korea, India and the Philippines. Domestically, it has been widely promoted and applied in Hubei, Shandong, Hunan, Yunnan, Tianjin and other places, with a cumulative application area of 21.16 million mu, increasing income and reducing expenditure by 4.3 billion yuan. In addition, the raw materials for producing the new natural anthraquinone compound fungicide can be grown in deserts and barren land, which also provides a new way for farmers to become wealthy.