Sucking Pests Team News
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Insecticide Mixtures and Resistance Management – Updated Guidance
The combined application of two insecticides with different modes of action (MoA) is an increasingly common approach to insect pest management. Insecticide mixtures (tank-mix or pre-formulated mixture) are applied to crops for pest management for many different reasons. These reasons include to broaden spectrum, to combine different technical characteristics of insecticides, or to combine two modes of action to control species where single compound applications do not provide sufficient control. Mixing insecticides, may also offer a benefit for insecticide resistance management (IRM). In the guidance document IRAC presents an up-dated mixture statement and the key considerations supporting it.
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IRAC Vietnam takes up the challenge to improve farmer IRM
For farmers in Vietnam, the agricultural environment is very dynamic. Changes in weather patterns, consumer behavior, the availability of labor, the availability of crop protection products, and the crop pest patterns, require farmers to adjust their agricultural practices to sustain and improve both crop quantity and quality. Badly adopted cultivation practices can lead to increasing problems with insecticide resistance.
Farmers in Vietnam (VN) are experiencing increasing insecticide resistance, rendering their efforts in crop protection inefficient even though they can choose between more than 1500 different insecticide brands, which represent over 600 different active ingredients. If the offer is so diversified, why are farmers running into trouble? The key question is, how to decide which product to use? Interviews with farmers reveal that most believe that they should rotate different products, for insecticide resistance management (IRM).
This shows that farmers are clearly lacking available, essential IRM guidance.
- For rotation, farmers need to know how to select best-fit products, among dozens of hundreds of available insecticides brands, to use.
- Product rotation should be associated with insect generations and the product’s mode of action (MoA) which is indicated by IRAC group numbers.
- The product MoA should be printed on product labels in a standardized manner, including essential information on IRM, as proposed by IRAC and CropLife International. So far, MoA labelling is still only optional for VN manufacturers.
IRAC VN, in association with CropLife VN, are engaging to help farmers to better manage insecticide resistance in the future and planning to:
- be fully committed to comply with IRAC guidance (MoA icon, IRM statement)
- encourage all VN pesticide manufacturers to implement MoA labelling practice
- engage the VN Government agency to make MoA labelling mandatory
- create online IPM, RM, RAC guidance resources in Vietnamese
- establish train-the-trainer programs together with CropLife VN, government agencies, and other stake holders to increase IRM awareness and practice
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Updated guidelines for rotating seed treated, soil and foliar applied insecticides
The general principles of resistance management apply to seed and soil treatments as with foliar applied insecticides, however there are some additional factors that should be considered. There are limited insecticide modes of action available for use either as soil or seed treatments, therefore, the judicious use of the available modes of action is essential for sustainable control of the insect pests targeted by these applications. The updated IRAC guidelines provide more information.
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Euschistus heros IRM folder from IRAC Brasil translated to English
Euschistus heros IRM leaflet from IRAC Brasil has been translated to English as a leaflet but also as a slide deck.
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Sucking Pest IRM Guidelines – New Graphics Version
Earlier in 2020 the IRAC Sucking Pest WG developed a set of IRM guidelines as a text version. This has now been complemented with a new graphics version. Both the Text Version and the Graphics Version and can be downloaded from the IRAC website.
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Further language versions of the IRM and MoA videos now available
A full list of the languages available are copied below.
Mode of Action:
English, Spanish, Portuguese, Mandarin Chinese, French, Italian, Korean, Arabic, Russian, Bahasa(Indonesian), Khmer , Japanese , Tagalog (Philippines), HindiInsecticide Resistance Management:
English, Spanish, Portuguese, Mandarin Chinese, Japanese, Hindi, French, Italian, Korean, Arabic, Russian, Bahasa (Indonesian), Russian, Tagalog (Philippines) -
Resistance Alert for Cotton Aphid (Aphis gossypii)
Cases of Insecticide resistance associated with the cotton aphid (Aphis gossypii) have been reported since the mid-1960‘s. Resistance to organophosphate, carbamate, cyclodiene organochlorine and pyrethroid insecticides are considered as globally widespread.
More recently there have been substantive reports of resistance to the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor competitive modulators (IRAC group 4). This group of chemistries has provided effective control of the cotton aphid for many years, but now reports of resistance are increasing.
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New IRAC MoA App with updated classification and search function
The IRAC Mode of Action App in IOS and Android has been updated to include the latest changes to the MoA Classification (Ver. 9.3, June 2019). This incorporates some additional MoA Groups including bio-insecticides. The update also includes some additional features such as an active ingredient search and links to the latest IRAC News on the IRAC website.
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Successful workshop on insect resistance management in Brazil
On April 4, 2019, IRAC-BR and the Copacol cooperative (Cafelândia-PR) organized the I WORKSHOP ON INSET RESISTANCE MANAGEMENT (MRI) to discuss the validation of regional MRI recommendations. The event brought together experts on insect resistance and the staff of Copacol.
Initially the process of evolution of insect resistance to insecticides and Bt plants and MRI strategies was presented and discussed. The IRAC-BR representatives presented the current susceptibility data to insecticides in the main pest species that attack soybean and corn crops, such as: Spodoptera frugiperda, Chrysodeixis includens, Helicoverpa armigera, Euschistus heros and Bemisia tabaci.
For the practical part of the Workshop, the participants were divided into working groups for case studies looking for solutions to regional problems, with a view to MRI. Among the pest insects of regional importance are the management of the brown bug (Euschistus heros), the belly-green bug (Dichelops melacanthus) and the carpiaceous caterpillar (Spodoptera frugiperda). The current management of these species was discussed and how it could be improved, taking into account the production system of the region, in order to delay the evolution of resistance. The possibility of implementing MRI strategies at regional level and monitoring the susceptibility of populations of these sites in partnership with IRAC-BR consultants was also discussed, since Copacol has a large area of coverage in the western region of Paraná. The I Workshop on MRI was very productive, as it allowed discussion on the approach of IRAC-BR with the technical staff of Copacol. on the current management practices of the main soybean and corn pest insects in the western region of Paraná, as well as, what MRI strategies can be put into practice at the regional level to delay the evolution of resistance. IRAC-BR thanks Copacol for the reception and organization of this Workshop.
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The Case for the Canadian Agriculture Industry to Proactively Engage in Pesticide Resistance Management
The Ontario Pest Management Conference (OPMC) Steering Committee commissioned this White Paper as a call to action, to stimulate focused dialogue and set in motion a compelling strategy to proactively engage Canadian agriculture stakeholders in pesticide resistance management (RM).
Its intention is to set out a coherent approach to align Canadian agriculture stakeholders in RM engagement. It is an agenda for renewing government, university, industry and producer investment in a RM framework — to strengthen the commitment, communication and implementation of RM at the farm level. Read the full White Paper.