Research Product

Microbial pest control agents (MPCAs-viruses, bacteria, protozoa, and fungi) are being used as biological pesticides and herbicides. Many of these agents are considered potential MPCAs and could be used widely in the environment. Therefore, test animals must be selected and laboratory systems developed to evaluate safety of such agents to nontarget species. A simple, multispecies laboratory system has been designed and used to determine risks of infectivity and pathogenicity of Colletotrichum gloeosporioides (CollegoŽ), a registered postemergent mycoherbicide, to nontarget freshwater and estuarine plant and animal species. Test organisms included a freshwater and an estuarine fish, crustacean, bivalve mollusc, and plant. These multispecies systems also permit evaluation of other MPCAs against nontarget aquatic species and provide a standardized procedure for safety testing. Results from this study have shown these multispecies test systems to be viable, inexpensive, and reliable. Histopathological methods used indicated no evidence that experimental exposure to the fungal MPCA in our test system caused infection or related pathogenicity in the selected nontarget species.