Project properties
Title Biological control of caterpillars using baculoviruses (internship)
Group Entomology, Laboratory of
Project type internship
Credits 24-36
Supervisor(s) Corien Voorburg (WUR Bleiswijk, Business unit Greenhouse Horticulture & Flower Bulbs)
Examiner(s) Prof. dr. M. Dicke
Contact info Corien Voorburg (corien.voorburg@wur.nl)
Begin date 2023/01/03
End date 2023/12/31
Description As an intern, your main focus will be the study of baculoviruses as biocontrol agents against the caterpillar Chrysodeixis chalcites. Apart from this you will have the opportunity to learn about many aspects of biological pest control in greenhouse horticulture from multiple running projects.
The internship will be carried out in Bleiswijk, at Wageningen University & Research, Business unit Greenhouse Horticulture & Flower Bulbs. Within our group 160 people of all different disciplines are working on increasing the sustainability of the greenhouse horticulture sector. At Bleiswijk we have a subteam of 16 people working specifically on biological pest control. The project on caterpillar control is multidisciplinary involving both entomologists and virologists and also involves a collaboration with the department of Virology from Wageningen University. In addition, several growers and companies are involved in the project.

Chrysodeixis chalcites (or Turkish moth) is a major problem in the greenhouse horticulture sector, mainly in cultivation of tomato, bell pepper and gerbera. Since the use of chemical products is restricted, the problem increased and the search for alternative control methods is necessary. Baculoviruses are one of the promising ways to control these caterpillars. When baculovirus-particles are ingested by the caterpillar, this can cause an infection leading to the death of the caterpillar and further spread of the virus. Baculoviruses could be applied by the grower as biological control, however the circumstances influencing the efficacy of the virus are not fully known. One part of the project will focus on unravelling these factors to improve the effect of the applied baculovirus. Next to that, baculoviruses are also latently present in part of the caterpillar population. In this project, the possibilities for activating these latently present baculoviruses by subjecting the caterpillars to stress factors is also explored. In this case, no external virus is administered, but the virus present in the population would be activated by certain stress factors. We want to find out which stress factors could lead to activation and whether these can be used in a greenhouse to control the population of Chrysodeixis chalcites caterpillars.

If you are interested in the project or would like to know more about it, please contact Corien Voorburg (corien.voorburg@wur.nl).
Used skills
Requirements ENT-30806 Fundamental and Applied Aspects of the Biology of Insects. For MBI students the requirement is that they have followed the two courses of their MBI specialization.