Acta Entomologica Sinica ›› 2020, Vol. 63 ›› Issue (10): 1276-1286.doi: 10.16380/j.kcxb.2020.10.013

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Nanoinsecticides and their application in agricultural insect pest management

ZHANG Da-Xia1, PAN Shou-He2, BAI Hai-Xiu3, DU Jiang2, LIU Feng2,*, HOU You-Ming1,*   

  1.  (1. State Key Laboratory of Ecological Pest Control for Fujian and Taiwan Crops, College of Plant Protection, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou 350002, China; 2. Shandong Key Laboratory of Pesticide Toxicology & Application Technique, College of Plant Protection, Shandong Agricultural University, Tai′an, Shandong 271018, China; 3. Shandong Medicine Technician College, Tai′an, Shandong 271018, China)
  • Online:2020-10-20 Published:2020-11-06

Abstract:  Nanotechnology has received great attention in the field of agriculture, and it is expected to improve the utilization rate and application effect of pesticides and fertilizers. In recent years, a number of experiments have been carried out to verify the potential for nanoinsecticides controlling agricultural insect pests and laid the foundation for the green agriculture, modern agriculture and intelligent agriculture. In this article, we reviewed the research status of the advantages of nanoinsecticides and the mechanisms of their synergistic effects. The advantages of nanoinsecticides lie in that: nanocarriers may damage the body wall, causing water loss or disturbing the normal physiological function of pests; the active ingredients can be delivered to the target position by the functionalized nanocarriers for improving utilization rate; the adhesion of insecticides on plant surface and their absorption by plants can be improved due to the functional groups and nanoscale effects of nanocarriers; and nucleic acid pesticides can be transported into plants by nanocarriers to regulate the expression of target genes in plants or pests. Although nanoinsecticides show many advantages, there are still some problems to be studied: (1) the uptake of nanoinsecticides by plants depends on the size and type of carrier, so suitable scales and carriers should be selected according to the application scenarios to improve the utilization rate of pesticides while reducing pesticide residues; (2) it is of great significance to comprehensively evaluate the environmental risks of nanoinsecticides by studying their degradation, transfer, and enrichment behavior in the environment as well as the influence caused by the difference in carriers; (3) at present, the preparation process of most of nanoinsecticides is too complex and sophisticated to be suitable for industrialization; and (4) the standard of nano-preparation and the evaluation criteria of environmental risks should be established to provide the basis for pesticide registration. In addition, the potential of nanosensors in agricultural pest monitoring is also worth attention.

Key words: Nanopesticide, nanotechnology, targeted delivery, pesticide utilization rate; environmental risk