(Download the information as a pdf file) What is insecticide resistance modelling and who uses it? One of the most common questions asked of insecticide resistance researchers is “How long will it take for insecticide resistance to occur?” One way to answer this questions is to look at past events and identify trends that may repeat. This can be informative, but limited to general trends. For example in the crop protection market, it is often predicted that a pest…
Euschistus heros feeds on a wide range of crops and has piercing-sucking mouthparts, which both larvae and adults use to puncture plant tissues, injecting saliva that contains digestive enzymes and sucking-in the mixture of sap and dissolving cells. Most of the injury to plants is caused by the toxic saliva, and to a lesser extent by the physical damage. Adult stink bugs overwinter in diapause under leaf litter, tree bark, on crops sown in autumn, in tall grass, in harvest…
The three core areas of activity for IRAC are traditional Crop Protection, Plant Biotechnology and Public Health. Crop Protection is the area where historically IRAC has been most active and over the years there have been a number of different Working Groups focussing on various potential resistance issues or tackling these as they arise. Currently there are three Working Groups sitting as part of the Crop Protection Team: Chewing Pests, Sucking and Piercing Pests and Nematodes. Further information and…
With the continued global spread of transgenic crops expressing insect-control traits, IRAC has a major role to provide education on IRM in this area and to promote the implementation of effective IRM strategies. In particular, in those countries where no collaborative organisation currently existed, it was agreed that IRAC could play an especially useful role in helping to ensure that good IRM practices are understood and followed. The team has an on-going activity to identify and work with appropriate…
Spodoptera exigua is a highly dispersive, polyphagous species that is a serious pest of vegetable, field and flower crops. Susceptible crops include asparagus, cabbage, pepper, tomato, lettuce, celery, strawberry, eggplant, sugar beet, alfalfa, and cotton. S. exigua is native to Southeast Asia but is now found in Africa, Southern Europe, Japan, Australia and North America. It lacks a diapause mechanism and can only overwinter successfully in warm regions or in greenhouses. Nevertheless, because of its dispersal abilities, S. exigua will…
Adults are up to 3 mm in length. The body colour is determined partly genetically, and partly by the environment (especially food quality). Most clones tend to be yellowish to dark green or brown, or sometimes orange-pink. The species spends its entire year on cereals and grasses. Only a small proportion of the population overwinters as eggs on Gramineae, and these hatch in early spring. The majority of the population overwinters as mobile stages on wild grasses or winter cereals…