USDA seeks fire ant control partner

A red imported fire ant control is available for licensing, and USDA’s Agricultural Research Service is looking for companies to produce it commercially.

The control is an ant-infecting virus called Solenopsis invicta virus-1, or SINV-1. Researchers at the ARS Imported Fire Ant and Household Insects Research Unit found it to occur in about 20 percent of red imported fire ant fields, where it appears to cause the slow death of infected colonies.

The SINV-1 technology -- still in its early research stage -- is the first confirmed virus to be recovered from red imported fire ants.

In the laboratory, SINV-1 is self-sustaining and transmissible. Once introduced, it can eliminate a colony within two to three months, which is why researchers think it has potential for a viable biopesticide against red imported fire ant.

Integrating the virus into attractant baits could yield a tool for use by the pest-control industry, nursery and row crop growers, ranchers and consumers.

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For more: Imported Fire Ant and Household Insects unit, (352) 374-5903.