Joint Actions of Baculoviruses and Other Control Agents

Baculoviruses are arthropod-specific viruses that have been utilized as biological control agents since 1930 (
1
). Several advantages are associated with the use of baculoviruses for pest control, including the host specificity and environmental compatibility attributes that offer major advantages over classical insecticides (
2
,
3
). Because of these attributes, baculoviruses may be readily integrated mto an IPM program because they do not adversely affect beneficial insects and other nontarget organisms (
2
,
4
,
5
). However, the success of baculoviruses as biological control agents of insect pests has been widely variable. Over the past two decades, baculoviruses have been commercialized for the control of codling moth (
Cydia pomonella
), gypsy moth (
Lymantria dispar
), corn earworm (
Helicoverpa zea
), tobacco budworm (
Heliothis virescens
), beet armyworm (
Spodoptera exigua
), and the cabbage looper (
Trzchoplusia ni
) in the United States; the rhinoceros beetle (
Oryctes rhinoceras
) in the Pacific; the velvetbean caterpillar (
Antacarsia gemmatalis
) in Brazil (
6
–
8
); and Spodoptera exigua and Cydia pomonella in Europe (
9
,
10
). In addition, large scale control programs for periodic forest pests, such as the Douglas-Fir tussock moth (
Orgyia pseudotsugata
), Eastern Spruce Budworm (
Chorzstoneura fumzjkana
), and European pine sawfly (
Neodiprion sertzfer
), have been conducted in countries worldwide, including Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Austria, Italy, Poland, and the Soviet Republic (former USSR) (
11
). Although these materials have been used sporadically in the past, biological control agents currently account for Bacillus thurzngzensis
making up the bulk of this percentage (
12
). Baculoviruses have never captured a significant msectlclde market share prlmarlly because of their mstablllty m the field and their relatively slow time to kill (
13
,
14
).