The BIOCOMES project brings together 27 partners developing 11 novel biological control products for pests and diseases. One of these pests is cabbage moth. The following slides will explain more about cabbage moth and our activities to find a sustainable biocontrol product to counteract it.

1. www.biocomes.eu
Cabbage moth
The BIOCOMES project brings together 27
partners to develop eleven new biological
control products for pests and diseases.
The following slides will explain more
about one of these pests – the cabbage
moth – and our activities to find a
sustainable biocontrol product to
counteract it.

2. www.biocomes.eu
The cabbage moth (Mamestra brassicae) is among the most damaging pests that affect
cabbage production. The insecticides most commonly applied against it today not only
kill the pest itself, but also other insect species, including beneficial ones. We are
therefore working on a biological control agent (BCA) which will be a new parasitoid-
based product.
photos: G. Barloggio & H. Luka

3. www.biocomes.eu
Untreated cabbage plants (like the white cabbage pictured) are very susceptible to
different pests. The cabbage moth is one of the pests that cause severe damage to
untreated cabbage plants, leading to major economic losses.
photo: G. Barloggio

4. www.biocomes.eu
Natural enemies of cabbage moth can help control its population. This project focuses
on suppression of the cabbage moth (Mamestra brassicae) by using the parasitoid
Telenomus sp. as a biocontrol agent.
Photo: G. Barloggio

5. www.biocomes.eu
Telenomus sp. lays its eggs in the eggs of the cabbage moth. Developing Telenomus sp.
embryos feed on the cabbage moth eggs, ultimately killing them. A single Telenomus sp.
female can parasitise more than one hundred eggs, making this species a promising
candidate for the control of the cabbage moth.
Photo: G. Barloggio
Cabbage moth eggs Cabbage moth eggs parasitised by
Telenomus sp.
Eggs after Telenomus sp. emergence

6. www.biocomes.eu
During the first year of the BIOCOMES project, we collected information about the
parasitoid Telenomus sp. and worked on the characterisation of its population
structures, for which specific primers were developed.
photos: G. Barloggio
qPCR analysis machine DNA samples ready to be analysed

7. www.biocomes.eu
We worked together with different scientists in Europe to investigate the distribution of
the parasitoid. These EU partners collected parasitoid eggs in their regions and sent
them to FiBL. We determined the insects at species level using the developed primers.
Photo: F. Birch-Jensen photo: A. Renda

8. www.biocomes.eu
After we gained information about the biology of the parasitoid, we spent the second
year of the BIOCOMES project conducting the first field trial. This involved comparing
the parasitation performance of Telenomus sp. under field conditions to standard plant
protection measures…
photo: G. Barloggio

9. www.biocomes.eu
… and to untreated plots.
photo: L. Forlin

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Parasitoids were released in the field using special field delivery systems that contained
parasitised cabbage moth eggs. After a few days, parasitoids hatch directly in the field,
where they can immediately start parasitising other cabbage moth eggs laid on nearby
cabbage leaves.
photo: G. Barloggio photo: L. Forlin
field delivery
systems, containing
parasitised cabbage
moth eggs
field delivery
systems, containing
parasitised cabbage
moth eggs

11. www.biocomes.eu
Cabbage moth eggs were exposed in the field for two days to monitor the parasitoid
performance (parasitation rate).
Foto: G. Barloggiophoto: G. Barloggio

12. www.biocomes.eu
To determine the parasitation rate, pictures of the exposed egg clutches were taken
before and after exposition.
photo: G. Barloggio
Before After

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We also recorded the number of pest and beneficial insects twice during the cabbage
growing season.
Foto: G. Barloggio
photo: H. Luka

14. www.biocomes.eu
In addition, weather data was collected using small stations placed in each field in order
to determine the influence of weather conditions on the parasitation rate.
Foto: L. Forlin

15. www.biocomes.eu
Selected cabbage plants in each treatment were harvested and their weight recorded.
The field trials will be repeated in the upcoming year to gain a better overview of the
effectiveness of the BCA.
photos: G. Barloggio

16. This presentation gives a quick overview
of the first tests in the development of a
BCA for the cabbage moth.
Visit our website to read more about our
work on the cabbage moth and the
other ten biological control products we
are developing.
www.biocomes.eu
This project has received funding from the
European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme for
research, technological development and demonstration
under grant agreement no
612713