Phytoparasitica (1998) 26 (4) - Areawide insecticide ...

A.R. Horowitz (1998)
Areawide insecticide resistance management (IRM) strategies in cotton fields
Phytoparasitica 26 (4)
Interdisciplinary and Areawide Integrated Pest Management, lectures held May 28, 1998, Bet Dagan, Israel
Abstract: Cotton production is associated with many species of arthropod pests; hence, many pesticide treatments are applied during the season to cotton fields worldwide. As a consequence, resistance to insecticides has evolved in cotton pests. To combat resistance, several programs have been developed in various parts of the world. An IRM strategy was implemented in the 1983/84 season in Australia, in response to the appearance of Helicoverpa armigera resistance to pyrethroids. This strategy was based on the rotation of insecticides with different modes of action during the period of a pest generation, and use of ovicide/larvicide mixtures. According to pest occurrence and insecticide groups, the season was divided into three stages (windows). The pyrethroid window was set in the middle of the season at 42 days (ca one field generation). Within a few seasons the strategy had to be modified as a result of development of an alternative resistance mechanism toward the insecticide mixtures in H. armigera. Nonetheless, the Australian strategy was able to 'buy time', enabling the introduction of new technology such as novel insecticides and synergists, a test kit for identifying the resistant Helicoverpa species (H. armigera), and transgenic Bt-cotton seeds. Other tactics were also applied, such as non-cotton refuge crops (sorghum or corn), and pupae destruction by cultivation after harvest. The Israeli cotton IPM-IRM strategy, introduced in 1987, has adopted the window idea (rotation scheme in particular periods) from the Australian program, but applied it to other pests. The Israeli strategy is focused primarily on controlling Bemisia tabaci and other cotton pests with novel insecticides, especially insect growth regulators (IGR) such as pyriproxyfen and buprofezin for controlling the whitefly, and benzoylphenyl ureas for controlling leaf- and bollworms. The strategy utilizes alternative control measures such as sex pheromone disruption and natural enemy encouragement, along with insecticides. Based on the cotton IPM-IRM strategy, various programs are being developed and implemented in three regions in Israel: Bet She'an, western Galilee, and the western Negev. A whitefly resistance crisis in Arizona, USA, in 1995 promoted the formulation and implementation of an IRM strategy in 1996. Based on the Israeli experience, the IGRs pyriproxyfen and buprofezin were introduced into the Arizona cotton through emergency registration, and restricted to a single application of each per season. The use of synergized pyrethroid insecticides was delayed until late in the cotton-growing season. Implementation of this strategy was able to control effectively the whitefly and also reduced its resistance to various conventional insecticides. The three examples described above are considered successful national cotton strategies. They encourage an exchange of ideas and procedures and resulted in delay of resistance in major insect pests.
(The abstract is excluded from the Creative Commons licence and has been copied with permission by the publisher.)
Database assignments for author(s): Abraham Rami Horowitz

Research topic(s) for pests/diseases/weeds:
pesticide resistance of pest

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Pest and/or beneficial records:

Beneficial	Pest/Disease/Weed	Crop/Product	Country	Quarant.
	Helicoverpa armigera	Cotton (Gossypium)	Israel
	Bemisia tabaci	Cotton (Gossypium)	Israel