About Bt Insecticides
About Bt Insecticides
Biological insecticides based on a beneficial bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) are the most proven, most widely used and most successful of the known biological pesticides. Each Bt cell produces a unique crystalline protein known as Cry toxins. These Cry toxins provide control when they are ingested by pest larvae. Once consumed, very specific gut enzymes, which only function in the alkaline conditions of the caterpillar gut, dissolve the crystals to form the pesticidal active ingredient. This disrupts the pest’s digestive tract causing the pest to stop eating and then die.
Bt was first isolated in 1901. By 1920, farmers began using Bt to control worm pests and the first commercially produced Bt products appeared in 1938. Today’s Bt products exhibit increased persistence, advanced formulations and efficacy that makes them ideally suited for use in Resistance Management and Integrated Pest Management programs.
The Certis USA family of Bt products, includes:
| Agree® WG | Bt aizawai |
| Crymax® WDG | Bt kurstaki strain EG7841 |
| Deliver® | Bt kurstaki |
| Javelin® WG | Bt kurstaki |
| Lepinox WDG | Bt kurstaki |