Vol.12_No.2 - Pesticide Alternatives Lab - Michigan State University

Spring 2003 Resistant Pest Management Newsletter Vol. 12, No.2Hyderabad, Andhra PradeshIndiaG. V. SubbaratnamAcharya N G Ranga Agricultural UniversityHyderabad, Andhra PradeshIndiaH. C. SharmaInternational Crop Research Institute for Semi-Arid TropicsHyderabad, Andhra PradeshIndiaGenerating Baseline Data for Insecticide Resistance Monitoring in Cotton Aphid, Aphis gossypii GloverABSTRACT The baseline susceptibility data weregenerated for the six commonly used insecticides viz.,thiamethoxam, imidacloprid, dimethoate, methyldemeton, acephate, and monocrotophos in cottonecosystems for the field population of Aphis gossypii.Populations were collected from the cotton fields of theDepartment of Cotton, Agricultural College andResearch Institute, TNAU, Coimbatore, India. IRACmethod No. 8 developed and recommended byInsecticide Resistance Action Committee (IRAC) witha slight modification was used for arriving the lethalconcentrations. The base line susceptibility data werecreated for seven generations. The LC50 values variedfrom 0.3412 to 1.0414 for thiamethoxam, 0.4583 to1.8055 for imidacloprid, 3.0096 to 10.6924 fordimethoate, 12.598 to 49.2606 for methyl demeton,1.4615 to 5.3284 for acephate, and 1.1866 to 3.7057for monocrotophos. The LC95 values varied from10.8617 to 35.2153 for thiamethoxam, 17.9171 to43.4310 for imidacloprid, 49.1667 to 629.6511 fordimethoate, 418.4538 to 1174.6270 for methyldemeton, 36.1800 to 130.4890 for acephate, and24.9571 to 139.4943 for monocrotophos.KEY WORDS: Insecticide resistance, Aphis gossypii,diagnostic dosesINTRODUCTION The importance of Aphis gossypiiGlover as a cotton pest is increasing throughout theworld (Leclant and Deguine, 1994). High aphidpopulations may stunt and retard cotton seedlinggrowth and development as a result of its feeding. Lateseason populations can cause decreased fiber quality asthe result of stickiness and the development of sootymould associated with honeydew dropped onto cottonfibers (Isely, 1946). There has been a general decline inthe effectiveness of several insecticides to control A.gossypii. The intensity of aphid infestations hasincreased over the last ten years and the use ofinsecticides to control aphids is questioned.The pest problem is aggravated more rapidly dueto control failures in many areas. Though controlfailure may be due to many factors, one of the majorfactors is the development of resistance to insecticides.The chief objective in resistance monitoring is toexaggerate the differences between susceptible andresistant individuals such that the frequency ofmisclassification is greatly reduced (Ffrench-constantand Roush, 1990). This is fulfilled by fixing thediagnostic doses.Resistance to A. gossypii is in the initial stages ofdevelopment and no systematic work has been done sofar on monitoring of insecticide resistance in India as ithas been done in Amrasca devastans (Distant) (JayaPradeepa and Regupathy, 2002), Helicoverpa armigera(Hub), Plutella xylostella (Linn.), and Spodopteralitura (Niranjan Kumar and Regupathy, 2001). Giventhe background, the present study was undertaken todetermine the diagnostic doses for the commonly usedinsecticides in cotton for A. gossypii.MATERIALS and METHODS The test insects werecollected from the cotton field, Department of Cotton,Agricultural College and Research Institute, TNAU,Coimbatore, India. The population was maintained forseven continuous generations without exposure topesticides under the laboratory conditions forgenerating the baseline data, i.e. fixing diagnosticdoses.The dilutions required were prepared from thecommercial formulations of insecticides using distilledwater. The dosages were attained after preliminaryrange finding studies for constructing logconcentration-probit-mortality(lcpm) lines (Regupathyand Dhamu, 2001).The wingless adults aphids of ca 1.45mm size andweighing ca 0.19mg were taken from the culturemaintained for the treatment. Each replicationconsisted of 10 aphids and there were threereplications. Bioassays were conducted following theprocedure based on the standard Bemesia tabaciGennadius susceptibility test, IRAC method No.8developed and recommended by the InsecticideResistance Action Committee, with slight modification.The experimental setup consisted of twodisposable cups, one as an inner test chamber and theother as an outer water reservoir. The cup that servedas the inner test chamber was taken and a hole waspierced in the centre of the bottom side of the cup.The young green uncontaminated leaves wereselected and the petiole was cut to a length ofapproximately four cm. The leaves were dipped in theconcentrations for five seconds holding the leaf by thepetiole with fine forceps. Care was taken to avoid thedamage to the petiole. Then the leaves were left for26