Biopesticides are one of the important tools to implement the “Green Food System strategy” in Japan. This paper describes the definition and category of biopesticides in Japan, and classifies the registration of biopesticides in Japan, in order to provide reference for the development and application of biopesticides in other countries.
Due to the relatively limited area of available farmland in Japan, it is necessary to apply more pesticides and fertilizers to increase crop yields per area. However, the application of a large number of chemical pesticides has increased the environmental burden, and it is particularly important to protect soil, water, biodiversity, rural landscapes and food security to achieve sustainable agricultural and environmental development. With high pesticide residues in crops leading to increasing cases of public diseases, farmers and the public tend to use safer and more environmentally friendly biopesticides.
Similar to the European farm-to-Fork initiative, the Japanese government in May 2021 developed a “Green Food System Strategy” that aims to reduce the risk-weighted use of chemical pesticides by 50% by 2050 and increase the area of organic cultivation to 1 million hm2 (equivalent to 25% of Japan’s farmland area). The strategy seeks to enhance the productivity and sustainability of food, agriculture, forestry and fisheries through innovative Resilience measures (MeaDRI), including integrated pest management, improved application methods and the development of new alternatives. Among them, the most important is the development, application and promotion of integrated pest management (IPM), and biopesticides are one of the important tools.
1. Definition and category of biopesticides in Japan
Biopesticides are relative to chemical or synthetic pesticides, and generally refer to pesticides that are relatively safe or friendly to people, the environment and ecology using or based on biological resources. According to the source of active ingredients, biopesticides can be divided into the following categories: first, microbial source pesticides, including bacteria, fungi, viruses and original biological animals (genetically modified) microbial living organisms and their secreted metabolites; The second is plant source pesticides, including live plants and their extracts, plant embedded protective agents (genetically modified crops); Third, pesticides of animal origin, including live entomopathetic nematodes, parasitic and predatory animals and animal extracts (such as pheromones). The United States and other countries also classify natural mineral source pesticides such as mineral oil as biopesticides.
Japan’s SEIJ classifies biopesticides into living organism pesticides and biogenic substances pesticides, and classifies pheromones, microbial metabolites (agricultural antibiotics), plant extracts, mineral-derived pesticides, animal extracts (such as arthropod venom), nanoantibodies, and plant embedded protective agents as biogenic substances pesticides. The Federation of Agricultural Cooperatives of Japan classifies Japanese biopesticides into natural enemy arthropods, natural enemy nematodes, microorganisms and biogenic substances, and classifies inactivated Bacillus thuringiensis as microorganisms and excludes agricultural antibiotics from the category of biopesticides. However, in actual pesticide management, Japanese biopesticides are narrowly defined as biological living pesticides, that is, “biological control agents such as antagonistic microorganisms, plant pathogenic microorganisms, insect pathogenic microorganisms, insect parasitic nematodes, parasitic and predatory arthropods used for the control of pests”. In other words, Japanese biopesticides are pesticides that commercialize living organisms such as microorganisms, entomopathetic nematodes and natural enemy organisms as active ingredients, while the varieties and types of biological source substances registered in Japan do not belong to the category of biopesticides. In addition, according to Japan’s “Measures for the Treatment of the Results of Safety Assessment tests related to the application for Registration of microbial pesticides”, genetically modified microorganisms and plants are not under the management of biological pesticides in Japan. In recent years, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries has also initiated the re-evaluation process for biopesticides and developed new standards for non-registration of biopesticides to reduce the possibility that the application and spread of biopesticides may cause significant damage to the habitat or growth of animals and plants in the living environment.
The newly released “List of Organic planting Inputs” by the Japanese Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries in 2022 covers all biopesticides and some pesticides of biological origin. Japanese biopesticides are exempt from the establishment of Allowable Daily Intake (ADI) and maximum Residue limits (MRL), both of which can be used in the production of agricultural products under the Japanese Organic Agriculture Standard (JAS).
2. Overview of the registration of biological pesticides in Japan
As a leading country in the development and application of biopesticides, Japan has a relatively complete pesticide registration management system and a relatively rich variety of biopesticides registration. According to the author’s statistics, as of 2023, there are 99 biological pesticide preparations registered and effective in Japan, involving 47 active ingredients, accounting for about 8.5% of the total active ingredients of registered pesticides. Among them, 35 ingredients are used for insecticide (including 2 nematocides), 12 ingredients are used for sterilization, and there are no herbicides or other uses (Figure 1). Although pheromones do not belong to the category of biopesticides in Japan, they are usually promoted and applied together with biopesticides as organic planting inputs.
2.1 Biological pesticides of natural enemies
There are 22 active ingredients of natural enemy biopesticides registered in Japan, which can be divided into parasitic insects, predatory insects and predatory mites according to biological species and mode of action. Among them, predatory insects and predatory mites prey on harmful insects for food, and parasitic insects lay eggs in parasitic pests and their hatched larvae feed on the host and develop to kill the host. The parasitic hymenoptera insects, such as aphid bee, aphid bee, aphid bee, aphid bee, aphid bee, hemiptera bee and Mylostomus japonicus, registered in Japan, are mainly used for the control of aphids, flies and whiteflies on vegetables cultivated in greenhouse, and the prey chrysoptera, bug bug, ladybug and thrips are mainly used for the control of aphids, thrips and whiteflies on vegetables cultivated in greenhouse. The predatory mites are mainly used for the control of red spider, leaf mite, tyrophage, pleurotarsus, thrips and whitefly on vegetables, flowers, fruit trees, beans and potatoes cultivated in greenhouse, as well as on vegetables, fruit trees and tea planted in fields. Anicetus beneficus, Pseudaphycus mali⁃nus, E. eremicus, Dacnusa Sibirica sibirica, Diglyphus isaea, Bathyplectes anurus, degenerans (A. (=Iphiseius) degenerans, A. cucumeris The registration of natural enemies such as O. sauteri was not renewed.
2.2 Microbial Pesticides
There are 23 kinds of microbial pesticide active ingredients registered in Japan, which can be divided into viral insecticides/fungicides, bacterial insecticides/fungicides and fungal insecticides/fungicides according to the types and uses of microorganisms. Among them, microbial insecticides kill or control pests by infecting, multiplying and secreting toxins. Microbial fungicides control pathogenic bacteria through colonization competition, secretion of antimicrobials or secondary metabolites, and induction of plant resistance [1-2, 7-8, 11]. Fungi (predation) nematocides Monacrosporium phymatopagum, Microbial fungicides Agrobacterium radiobacter, Pseudomonas sp.CAB-02, non-pathogenic Fusarium oxysporum and the Pepper mild mottle virus attenuated strain, And the registration of microbial pesticides such as Xan⁃thomonas campestris pv.retroflexus and Drechslera monoceras were not renewed.
2.2.1 Microbial insecticides
The granular and nuclear polyhedroid virus insecticides registered in Japan are mainly used to control specific pests such as apple ringworm, tea ringworm and tea longleaf ringworm, as well as Streptococcus aureus on crops such as fruits, vegetables and beans. As the most widely used bacterial insecticide, Bacillus thuringiensis is mainly used to control lepidoptera and hemiptera pests on crops such as vegetables, fruits, rice, potatoes and turf. Among the registered fungal insecticides, Beauveria bassiana is mainly used to control the chewing and stinging mouthparts pests such as thrips, scale insects, whiteflies, mites, beetles, diamonds and aphids on vegetables, fruits, pines and tea. Beauveria brucei is used to control coleoptera pests such as longiceps and beetles in fruit trees, trees, angelica, cherry blossoms and shiitake mushrooms. Metarhizium anisopliae used to control thrips in greenhouse cultivation of vegetables and mangoes; Paecilomyces furosus and Paecilopus pectus were used to control whitefly, aphids and red spider in greenhouse cultivated vegetables and strawberries. The fungus is used to control whiteflies and thrips in greenhouse cultivation of vegetables, mangoes, chrysanthemums and lisiflorum.
As the only microbial nematocide registered and effective in Japan, Bacillus Pasteurensis punctum is used for root knot nematode control in vegetables, potatoes and figs.
2.2.2 Microbiocides
The virus-like fungicide zucchini yellowing Mosaic virus attenuated strain registered in Japan was used for the control of Mosaic disease and fusarium wilt caused by cucumber related virus. Among the bacteriological fungicides registered in Japan, Bacillus amylolitica is used for the control of fungal diseases such as brown rot, gray mold, black blight, white star disease, powdery mildew, black mold, leaf mold, spot disease, white rust and leaf blight on vegetables, fruits, flowers, hops and tobacco. Bacillus simplex was used for the prevention and treatment of bacterial wilt and bacterial blight of rice. Bacillus subtilis is used for the control of bacterial and fungal diseases such as gray mold, powdery mildew, black star disease, rice blast, leaf mildew, black blight, leaf blight, white spot, speckle, canker disease, blight, black mould disease, brown spot disease, black leaf blight and bacterial spot disease of vegetables, fruits, rice, flowers and ornamental plants, beans, potatoes, hops, tobacco and mushrooms. The non-pathogenic strains of Erwenella soft rot carrot subspecies are used for the control of soft rot and canker disease on vegetables, citrus, cycleen and potato. Pseudomonas fluorescens is used to control rot, black rot, bacterial black rot and flower bud rot on leaf vegetables. Pseudomonas roseni is used for the control of soft rot, black rot, rot, flower bud rot, bacterial spot, bacterial black spot, bacterial perforation, bacterial soft rot, bacterial stem blight, bacterial branch blight and bacterial canker on vegetables and fruits. Phagocytophage mirabile is used for the control of root swelling disease of cruciferous vegetables, and yellow basket bacteria are used for the control of powdery mildew, black mold, anthrax, leaf mold, gray mold, rice blast, bacterial blight, bacterial wilt, brown streak, bad seedling disease and seedling blight on vegetables, strawberries and rice, and promote the growth of crop roots. Lactobacillus plantarum is used to control soft rot on vegetables and potatoes. Among the fungicides registered in Japan, Scutellaria microscutella was used for the prevention and control of sclerotium rot in vegetables, black rot rot rot in scallions and garlic. Trichoderma viridis is used to control bacterial and fungal diseases such as rice blight, bacterial brown streak disease, leaf blight and rice blast, as well as asparagus purple streak disease and tobacco white silk disease.
2.3 Entomopathogenic nematodes
There are two species of entomopathogenic nematodes registered effectively in Japan, and their insecticidal mechanisms [1-2, 11] mainly involve invasion machinery damage, nutrition consumption and tissue cell damage disintegration, and symbiotic bacteria secreting toxins. Steinernema carpocapsae and S. glaseri, registered in Japan, are mainly used on sweet potatoes, olives, figs, flowers and foliage plants, cherry blossoms, plums, peaches, red berries, apples, mushrooms, vegetables, turf and ginkgo Control of insect pests such as Megalophora, olive weestro, Grape Black Weestro, Red Palm Weestro, Yellow Star Longicornis, Peach Neck-neck Weestro, Udon Nematophora, Double tufted Lepidophora, Zoysia Oryzae, Scirpus oryzae, Dipteryx japonica, Japanese Cherry Tree Borer, Peach small food worm, aculema Japonica and Red fungus. The registration of the entomopathogenic nematode S. kushidai was not renewed.
3. Summary and outlook
In Japan, biopesticides are important for ensuring food security, protecting the environment and biodiversity, and maintaining sustainable agricultural development. Unlike countries and regions such as the United States, the European Union, China and Vietnam [1, 7-8], Japanese biopesticides are narrowly defined as non-genetically modified living biocontrol agents that can be used as organic planting inputs. At present, there are 47 biological pesticides registered and effective in Japan, which belong to natural enemies, microorganisms and insect pathogenic nematodes, and are used for the prevention and control of harmful arthropods, plant parasitic nematodes and pathogens on greenhouse cultivation and field crops such as vegetables, fruits, rice, tea trees, trees, flowers and ornamental plants and lawns. Although these biopesticides have the advantages of high safety, low risk of drug resistance, self-searching or repeated parasitic elimination of pests under favorable conditions, long efficacy period and labor saving, they also have disadvantages such as poor stability, slow efficacy, poor compatibility, control spectrum and narrow use window period. On the other hand, the range of crops and control objects for the registration and application of biopesticides in Japan is also relatively limited, and it cannot replace chemical pesticides to achieve full efficacy. According to statistics [3], in 2020, the value of biopesticides used in Japan accounted for only 0.8%, which was far lower than the proportion of the registered number of active ingredients.
As the main development direction of the pesticide industry in the future, biopesticides are being more researched and developed and registered for agricultural production. Coupled with the progress of biological science and technology and the prominence of the cost advantage of biopesticide research and development, the improvement of food safety and quality, environmental load and agricultural sustainable development requirements, Japan’s biopesticide market is continuing to grow rapidly. Inkwood Research estimates that the Japanese biopesticide market will grow at a compound annual growth rate of 22.8% from 2017 to 2025, and is expected to reach $729 million in 2025. With the implementation of the “Green Food System Strategy”, biopesticides are being used in Japanese farmers
Post time: May-14-2024