A perspective on management of Helicoverpa armigera: transgenic Bt cotton, IPM, and landscapes

Abstract

Helicoverpa armigera is a major pest of agriculture, horticulture and floriculture throughout the Old World and recently invaded parts of the New World. We overview of the evolution in thinking about the application of area-wide approaches to assist with its control by the Australian Cotton Industry to highlight important lessons and future challenges to achieving the same in the New World. An over-reliance of broad-spectrum insecticides led to Helicoverpa spp. in Australian cotton rapidly became resistant to DDT, synthetic pyrethroids, organophosphates, carbamates and endosulfan. Voluntary strategies were developed to slow the development of insecticide resistance, which included rotating chemistries and basing spray decisions on thresholds. Despite adoption of these practices, insecticide resistance continued to develop until the introduction of genetically modified cotton provided a platform for augmenting Integrated Pest Management in the Australian cotton industry. Compliance with mandatory resistance management plans for Bt cotton necessitated a shift from pest control at the level of individual fields or farms towards a coordinated area-wide landscape approach. Our take-home message for control of H. armigera is that resistance management is essential in genetically modified crops and must be season long and area-wide to be effective. © 2016 Society of Chemical Industry.

Are herbicides a once in a century method of weed control?

“…Often it is the growers themselves that determine limits on behavior, with the government in the background, enforcing the resource management rules on which the growers collectively agree. An example of a highly successful area‐wide cooperative pest management group can be found in the Australian cotton industry, in which growers coordinated to use best management practices for preventing the population growth and spread of insect pests prior to the development of Bt cotton, as well as best management practices for use of Bt cultivars to avoid evolution of Bt resistance …”

Climate change, transgenic corn adoption and field-evolved resistance in corn earworm

“…The period of increased temperature anomaly in the twenty-first century coincides with the proliferation of crops engineered with genes from the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (Berliner) (Bt) to express insecticidal toxins. Bt crops are safe for human health and provide many benefits through reduced pest populations and pesticide usage, and increased profits [14–17]. Bt crops are adopted extensively with global plantings across 28 countries reaching about 178 million hectare in 2015, from 1.1 million hectare in 1996 [18].…”

“…L . ) provides economic benefits by suppressing pest populations and damage from lepidopteran pests [14,17,21–23]. Bt adoption, however, exacerbates selection pressure and risks of resistance evolution because the ‘high dosage’ of Bt toxin, a requirement for resistance management [24], is not expressed for all targeted pests.…”

Monitoring of four major lepidopteran pests in Korean cornfields and management of Helicoverpa armigera

“…Among lepidopteran corn pests, Helicoverpa armigera is one of the most important economic pests globally (Fitt 1989;Liu et al 2004Liu et al , 2009. Larvae feed on flowers and fruits, causing substantial damage (McGahan et al 1991), and are highly resistant to various insecticides (Mironidis et al 2013;Yang et al 2013;Bird 2015;Qayyum et al 2015;Xu et al 2016;Downes et al 2017). Larvae feed on flowers and fruits, causing substantial damage (McGahan et al 1991), and are highly resistant to various insecticides (Mironidis et al 2013;Yang et al 2013;Bird 2015;Qayyum et al 2015;Xu et al 2016;Downes et al 2017).…”