Resource Guide for Organic Insect and Disease ... - Cornell University

OMRI LISTED PRODUCTS
Actinovate for Lawn and Gardens (Natural Industries, Inc.)
Actinovate AG (for agricultural uses) (Natural Industries, Inc.)
Actinovate SP (for greenhouse, nursery, and landscapes) (Natural Industries, Inc.)
Actinovate STP (for seed treatment) (Natural Industries, Inc.)
References to OMRI listed products in this Guide are based on the 2012 edition of the OMRI
Product List. Please consult www.omri.org for changes and updates in the brand name product
listings.” after the product listing.
REENTRY INTERVAL (REI) AND PRE-HARVEST INTERVAL
REI is one hour for foliar applications.
Actinovate may be applied up to and including the day of harvest.
AVAILABILITY AND SOURCES
Products are available through commercial agricultural suppliers and online.
EFFECT ON THE ENVIRONMENT
There are no reports of birds, mammals, or insects serving as hosts for S. lydicus. Testing of
non-target organisms such as birds and mammals was waived by US EPA because S. lydicus
is ubiquitous in the soil, and applications at label rates are unlikely to significantly increase
exposures. S. lydicus was determined to pose no risk to aquatic organisms because spore
viability was reduced by 80% after 96 hours in rainbow trout exposure studies, and naturallyoccurring
Streptomyces species have been reported from marine sediments. S. lydicus is not a
known pathogen on any plant species.
EFFECT ON HUMAN HEALTH
Because S. lydicus is a common, well-characterized, naturally occurring soil bacterium,
US EPA required limited data for registration of the Actinovate products. S. lydicus has no
known animal hosts, and rat studies show that the WYEC108 strain is not toxic, infective, or
pathogenic to rats via oral ingestion, inhalation, or direct injection exposures. Eye and dermal
irritation studies showed that S. lydicus is non-irritating. Because repeated exposures to high
concentrations of microbial proteins can cause allergic sensitization, applicators must wear
a dust/mist filtering respirator that meets NIOSH standards of at least N-95, R-95, or P-95. US
EPA has made a determination of reasonable certainty of no harm to the US population and
established a permanent tolerance exemption for residues on all agricultural commodities
when used in accordance with label directions.
EFFICACY
The trials summarized below are mainly from the online publication Plant Disease Management
Reports and its predecessor journals. Trials conducted between 2000 and 2011 were included.
Because university trials are often conducted in fields with intentionally high levels of disease
inoculum, and untreated control and ineffective treatments may be producing secondary
inoculum, the level of pest control obtainable is likely to be higher than shown, especially
on completely treated fields in which a good program of cultural controls has also been
implemented.
In Figures 1 and 2, “good control” includes studies that showed statistically significant
reductions in pest levels of more than 75%. “Fair control” includes any non-significant
reductions over 50% and significant reductions between 50 and 75%. “Poor control” includes
results with less than 50% control. The Y-axis refers to the number of studies conducted.
S. lydicus has been tested against root and foliar pathogens in numerous vegetable crops
(Figure 1). Results have fallen mainly into the “Poor” category of control, with the exception of
one “Fair” result against root knot nematode in pumpkin and one “Good” and one “Fair” result
against Fusarium surface rot in sweet potato.
Organic Resource Guide 169