In recent years, we have witnessed a great evolution in the production and use of bioinputs in Brazil, mainly in the sugar and alcohol sector. Firstly, we need to understand what bio-inputs or biological inputs are.

They are “agro-industrial products or processes developed from enzymes, extracts (from plants or microorganisms), microorganisms, macroorganisms (invertebrates), secondary metabolites and pheromones, intended for the biological control of pests, and also active ingredients aimed at nutrition, promoters of plant growth, mitigating biotic and abiotic stresses and replacing antibiotics” (Embrapa, 2023).

The use of bioinputs to control insect pests from different crops has increased significantly, and in sugarcane there are great examples. With the expansion of a crop, such as sugarcane itself, natural barriers decrease like native vegetation, allowing the appearance or increase of different insect pests.

Ideally, integrated management of these pests should always be carried out. And biological control is one of the methods that are part of this integrated management. It consists of pest control using natural enemies (bioinputs), to keep the population levels of these pests in balance, without causing economic losses to the rural producer.

The National Bioinputs Program, as well as the Strategic Council of the National Bioinputs Program, were established through Decree 10,375, of May 2020. The objective of said program is, above all, to reduce dependence on imported inputs and leverage, in a sustainable way, the use of the potential of our biodiversity, and this is very positive for our country.

Bioinputs market data is periodically collected from large companies in the sector by Croplife. In 2023, a study was released (CropLife and S&P Global) projecting a value of 17 billion reais for the bioinputs market by 2030, with a growth rate between 2022 and 2023 of 23%.

The sugarcane crop in Brazil is one of those that most uses biological control, using this type of control on 4.5 million hectares of sugarcane, which corresponds to a little more than half of the total sugarcane area in Brazil. This is also due to the high level of awareness among managers in the sugar and alcohol sector. There are several insect pests that attack sugarcane.

Among them, the sugarcane leafhoppers Mahanarva species, the sugarcane weevil Sphenophorus levis and the sugarcane borer Diatraea saccharalis. Both the nymphs (young form) and the adults of sugarcane root sharpshooters suck the plant's sap, and the adult, in addition to sucking, injects a toxin into the leaves, causing yellowing and drying of the tips, reducing the sugarcane productivity between 15 and 80% per hectare, depending on the intensity of the attack.

The most used bioinput for leafhopper control is that produced from the fungus Metarhizium anisopliae. This fungus has been used in Brazil since the 1970s. Over time, new, more efficient strains were selected and produced on a larger scale, in addition to an evolution in the formulation of this bioinput and in field application techniques.

The oldest formulation of this fungus is granulated, with the fungus developed in rice grains. Another formulation is the wettable powder type, which is composed of pure spores mixed with some inert material to give greater volume. And the formulation that uses emulsifiable adjuvant oil, which is the so-called oily dispersion or even emulsifiable suspension or concentrate.

This formulation has several advantages such as: greater efficiency in killing the insect pest; greater adhesiveness on the foliage and insect body; greater protection of spores against ultraviolet radiation; less evaporation of the applied solution; greater spread on the foliage and insect body, which increases the area of contact with the pest; longer storage time at room temperature; and ease of transport and application. It is also applied using tractor sprayers or agricultural planes.

The cane weevil Sphenophorus levis It may be the main sugarcane pest, especially in the state of São Paulo. It works as follows: after mating, the females pierce the healthy tissues of the sugarcane rhizome with their jaws, at the base of the shoots, below ground level. They insert the eggs individually up to 4 millimeters inside the stalks. This causes losses of 20 to 30 tons of sugarcane per hectare per year and reduces the longevity of the sugarcane field.

The level of economic damage is a maximum of 3% of stumps attacked. Sugarcane fields with more than 30% of stumps attacked will be repaired immediately. The most used bioinput to control this pest is the Beauveria fungus bassiana which can be purchased in the different formulations already mentioned and applied with tractor-driven equipment called a ratoon cutter or with spray bars with hydraulic nozzles on pendants along the sugarcane line.

Another important pest in sugarcane cultivation is the sugarcane borer, Diatraea saccharalis. This pest can cause damage to sugarcane cultivation such as interference with the growth of shoots and tillers, death of buds, toppling of plants, drying out of tips (dead hearts), formation of lateral shoots and aerial rooting. The most suitable bio-inputs for sugarcane borer control are based on wasps parasitic on the borer or egg parasites of the Diatraea moth. saccharalis.

The Cotesia wasp flavipes is used in more than 4 million hectares of sugarcane fields, where it parasitizes during the caterpillar stage. The Trichogramma wasp galloi It is a parasite of Diatraea moth eggs saccharalis. Currently, the release of these two wasps in the sugarcane field is done using drones, which provide a more efficient distribution of this type of bio-input in the field.

The production of bioinputs on the farm has grown a lot in our country, but, for it to be of good quality, it is necessary for the producer to invest well in equipment and staff training and to have an aseptic environment to avoid contamination in the desired product. Currently, there are 617 bio-inputs registered for pest control, which can be found in the Embrapa Map application called Bio-inputs, available free of charge on Play Store platforms and Apple Store. The aim, with the greater use of bio-inputs, is to avoid the applications of chemical products or minimize them, providing greater protection of the environment, less residue in food and less poisoning of humans and animals. The search for a better world must be constant in our thoughts.