A naturally occurring virus, used commercially for years in the U.S. to kill a major orchard pest, is now available for use against codling moth in Canada.
Engage Agro, a Guelph company distributing minor-use pesticide products for specialized crops, has signed on as the Canadian distributor for CYD-X, an insecticidal virus marking the first Canadian registration for Maryland-based biopesticide maker Certis USA.
“CYD-X will enable and provide the apple and pear grower with more options to control codling moth larvae,” Tim Damico, Certis’ vice-president for the NAFTA region, said in a release Tuesday.
Read Also
Feed Grains Weekly: Price likely to keep stepping back
As the harvest in southern Alberta presses on, a broker said that is one of the factors pulling feed prices lower in the region. Darcy Haley, vice-president of Ag Value Brokers in Lethbridge, added that lower cattle numbers in feedlots, plentiful amounts of grass for cattle to graze and a lacklustre export market also weighed on feed prices.
The product, he said, offers those fruit growers “a sound resistance management strategy, ability to manage residue limits and (to) preserve the environmental integrity often found in an integrated pest management system.”
CYD-X’s active ingredient also gives growers flexibility, Don Surgeoner, commercial sales manager for Engage Agro, said in the same release. “They can use it for organic production, in IPM programs, or use it tank-mixed in a conventional control program,” he said.
The product’s cydia pomonella granulovirus, which infects and kills the larvae of the codling moth, is also “host-specific,” Engage Agro said, meaning it doesn’t infect beneficial insects, fish, wildlife, livestock or people.
Apart from apples and pears, CYD-X’s registration in the U.S. also covers it for use there on plum and walnut trees.
