Biological agents developed for pest and disease control throughout the goji growing season

With the creation of 4 compound pure biological agents formulated by the "Research on Biological Control Technology for Major Goji Pests and Diseases" team at the Institute of Plant Protection of the Ningxia Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences, the pests and diseases constraining the development of Ningxia's goji industry have finally met their greatest "natural enemy." The use of these agents will achieve biological control of pests and diseases throughout the entire goji growing season, not only reducing the number of control applications but also improving goji quality.

Goji is a traditional medicinal herb cultivated in Ningxia and is also a leading industry designated by the autonomous region's Party committee and government. However, the occurrence of goji pests and diseases is extremely complex, creating difficulties for control efforts. Blind and excessive use of pesticides is extremely common in production, causing serious goji contamination and increased production costs, thereby constraining the development of Ningxia's goji industry. In 2005, based on the problems existing in Ningxia's goji production, the autonomous region's Science and Technology Department established a major special project, "Key Technology Research for Goji Industrialization," for research, and in particular, in response to problems in pest and disease control, established the project "Research on Biological Control Technology for Major Goji Pests and Diseases," focusing on solving the bottleneck problem of pesticide residues constraining the improvement of goji quality. Over nearly 3 years of research, the team conducted systematic studies on 6 major goji pests and diseases: goji aphid, goji gall mite, goji rust mite, goji psyllid, goji red gall midge and goji anthracnose, initially establishing prediction and forecasting models for these pests and diseases, which have been preliminarily applied in production. On this basis, they also introduced and screened from home and abroad a number of biological pesticides with good control effects, and according to Ningxia's actual production conditions, formulated 4 compound pure biological agents. This year, the team conducted large-scale demonstrations in Zhongning, Huinong and Yinchuan areas. Combined with prediction and forecasting technology, results showed that using these 4 biological agents during the goji growing season can keep the number of control applications within 8, down from 13 in the past, and reduce control costs by about 30%, achieving biological control of pests and diseases throughout the entire goji growing season.

It is understood that these 4 biological agents are all extracted from plants. According to testing by nationally certified testing institutions, goji produced using them all reached the national Green A-level product standard.