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Japanese Farmers Just Got a New Pesticide: The Flightless Ladybug

posted by azrael on Thursday August 14 2014, @07:15PM   Printer-friendly
from the house-is-on-fire dept.

AnonTechie writes:

Ladybugs (Coccinellidae) can do the work that nasty chemicals used to. Researchers in Japan have discovered a way to selectively breed flightless ladybugs to be used as a "biopesticide" - a natural alternative to chemical pesticides.

Ladybugs have long been considered natural pest-control for gardens and crops, but their ability to fly away encouraged many agriculturalists to instead rely on chemical pesticides that are harmful to the environment. After several generations of being exposed to chemicals, many pests have also been known to develop pesticide resistance.

 
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  • (Score: 2) by bob_super on Thursday August 14 2014, @10:16PM

    by bob_super (1357) on Thursday August 14 2014, @10:16PM (#81487)

    They clog the spreaders' pipes?

    I'd venture a guess that farmers prefer to go Saddam on anything that moves, rather than trust the little buggers to spread correctly, stay in place more than five minutes, not attract bugs, and actually have a taste for every threat.
    If you have to spread again for something else (fungus? caterpillar?), it doesn't stack very well with the ladybug protection.

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