History Of Insecticide Use Research Articles

The Use of Insecticides to Manage the Western Corn Rootworm, Diabrotica virgifera virgifera, LeConte: History, Field-Evolved Resistance, and Associated Mechanisms.

Simple SummaryThe structure of agricultural enterprises in the western United States Corn Belt (large irrigated monocultures, continuous planting of maize, strong aerial pesticide application and livestock industries) has led to a tradition of extensive insecticide use over time to manage the western corn rootworm, Diabrotica virgifera virgifera LeConte (Dvv) a key insect pest of maize. Dvv damages maize roots, which can cause maize plant instability, reduced plant growth, and significant yield loss. Long-term insecticide use has contributed to Dvv becoming resistant to cyclodiene, organophosphate, carbamate, and pyrethroid insecticides since the 1950s. This paper reviews the historical and current use of insecticides in Dvv management programs and Dvv adaptation to insecticide use. Currently, insecticides have a reduced role in Dvv management programs but are still used as complementary tactics with other management approaches. Past history suggests that the probability of selecting for resistance to any future Dvv control technology will be high if it is not used within an integrated pest management framework with other tactics.The western corn rootworm, Diabrotica virgifera virgifera LeConte (Dvv) is a significant insect pest of maize in the United States (U.S.). This paper reviews the history of insecticide use in Dvv management programs, Dvv adaptation to insecticides, i.e., field-evolved resistance and associated mechanisms of resistance, plus the current role of insecticides in the transgenic era. In the western U.S. Corn Belt where continuous maize is commonly grown in large irrigated monocultures, broadcast-applied soil or foliar insecticides have been extensively used over time to manage annual densities of Dvv and other secondary insect pests. This has contributed to the sequential occurrence of Dvv resistance evolution to cyclodiene, organophosphate, carbamate, and pyrethroid insecticides since the 1950s. Mechanisms of resistance are complex, but both oxidative and hydrolytic metabolism contribute to organophosphate, carbamate, and pyrethroid resistance facilitating cross-resistance between insecticide classes. History shows that Dvv insecticide resistance can evolve quickly and may persist in field populations even in the absence of selection. This suggests minimal fitness costs associated with Dvv resistance. In the transgenic era, insecticides function primarily as complementary tools with other Dvv management tactics to manage annual Dvv densities/crop injury and resistance over time.

Early Insecticide Controversies and Beekeeper Advocacy in the Great Lakes Region

Abstract This article examines the debates that surrounded incidents of honeybee poisoning in the southern Great Lakes region in the 1880s and 1890s. Drawing upon the records of beekeepers and allied entomologists from Ontario and neighboring states, it analyzes the history of insecticide use, knowledge development, and risk calculation in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Here, beekeepers emerge as an important and largely overlooked collective voice in the history of insecticide controversies, contributing as they did to legislation, education, and advocacy efforts on both sides of the US-Canadian border. Their actions in response to a cogent threat to their livelihoods mark them as early advocates for environmental protection. Deeply familiar with the amenities and threats of surrounding land uses for their honey crop, late nineteenth-century beekeepers pressed for prudent insecticide use and “bee-friendly” horticultural practices more than half a century before the more familiar insecticide controversies of the postwar period. By the turn of the century, these efforts had borne some success in reducing incidents of honeybee poisoning. As the frequency, quantity, and toxicity of insecticides increased in the early twentieth century, however, powerful fruit-grower interests left Great Lakes beekeepers (and their bees) to shoulder the risks of an increasingly toxic countryside or to fold their operations, as many chose to do. For environmental historians, their fight presents an early example of the effects of agricultural industrialization, and its associated environmental consequences, on minority producers and the animals they kept.

Effect of D-Allethrin Aerosol and Coil to the Mortality of Mosquitoes

Commercial insecticides were widely used by communities to control the mosquito population in their houses. D-allethrin is one of insecticide ingredients widely distributed in two different concentrations namely 0.15% of aerosol and 0.3% of coil formulations. We aimed to understand the mortality of indoor mosquitoes after being exposed to d-allethrin 0.15% (aerosol) and 0.3% (coil) formulations. This quasi-experiment study applied the posttest-only comparison group design. The aerosol and coil d-allethrin were used to expose the wild mosquitoes in twelve dormitory bedrooms of SMKN Jawa Tengah, a vocational high school belonging to Central Java Provincial Government, on March 2017. The compounds were exposed for 60 min to each bedroom with four-week interval for both of formulations. The knockdown mosquitoes were collected into a plastic cup and delivered to the laboratory for 24h holding, morphologically species identification and mortality recording. History of insecticide use in the dormitory was recorded by an interview with one student in each bedroom. Data were statistically analyzed with independent sample t-test and Mann-Whitney. As many as 57 knockdown mosquitoes belonging to three species were obtained namely Culex fuscocephala, Cx. quinquefasciatus and Aedes aegypti with mortality rate of 50.88% after 24h holding. Knockdown and mortality of mosquitoes were significantly different based on d-allethrin formulations. D-allethrin concentrations were not effective for controlling Culex mosquitoes but effective for Ae. aegypti. Further efficacy of d-allethrin 0.15% aerosol to eradicate Ae. aegypti is necessary to be conducted in supporting the Dengue vector control.

Resistance to commonly used insecticides and phosphine fumigant in red palm weevil, Rhynchophorus ferrugineus (Olivier) in Pakistan.

The red palm weevil Rhynchophorus ferrugineus (Olivier) is an important pest of date palms in many regions of the world. This paper reports the first survey of insecticide resistance in field populations of R. ferrugineus in Pakistan which were collected from seven date palm growing areas across Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) provinces, Pakistan. The resistance was assessed by the diet incorporation method against the formulated commonly used chemical insecticides profenophos, imidacloprid, chlorpyrifos, cypermethrin, deltamethrin, spinosad, lambda-cyhalothrin and a fumigant phosphine. Elevated levels of resistance were recorded for cypermethrin, deltamethrin and phosphine after a long history of insecticide use in Pakistan. Resistance Ratios (RRs) were 63- to 79-fold for phosphine, 16- to 74-fold for cypermethrin, 13- to 58-fold for deltamethrin, 2.6- to 44-fold for profenophos, 3- to 24-fold for chlorpyrifos, 2- to 12-fold for lambda-cyhalothrin and 1- to 10-fold for spinosad compared to a susceptible control line. Resistant R. ferrugineus populations were mainly found in southern Punjab and to some extent in KPK. The populations from Bahawalpur, Vehari, Layyah and Dera Ghazi Khan were most resistant to chemical insecticides, while all populations exhibited high levels of resistance to phosphine. Of the eight agents tested, lower LC50 and LC90 values were recorded for spinosad and lambda-cyhalothrin. These results suggest that spinosad and lambda-cyhalothrin exhibit unique modes of action and given their better environmental profile, these two insecticides could be used in insecticide rotation or assist in phasing out the use of older insecticides. A changed pattern of both insecticides can be used sensibly be recommended without evidence of dose rates and frequencies used.

Xenopsylla cheopis (Siphonaptera: Pulicidae) susceptibility to Deltamethrin in Madagascar.

The incidence of bubonic plague in Madagascar is high. This study reports the susceptibility of 32 different populations of a vector, the flea Xenopsylla cheopis (Siphonaptera: Pulicidae), to the insecticide Deltamethrin. Despite the use of Deltamethrin against fleas, plague epidemics have re-emerged in Madagascar. The majority of the study sites were located in the Malagasy highlands where most plague cases have occurred over the last 10 years. X. cheopis fleas were tested for susceptibility to Deltamethrin (0.05%): only two populations were susceptible to Deltamethrin, four populations were tolerant and 26 populations were resistant. KD50 (50% Knock-Down) and KD90 (90% Knock-Down) times were determined, and differed substantially from 9.4 to 592.4 minutes for KD50 and 10.4 min to 854.3 minutes for KD90. Susceptibility was correlated with latitude, but not with longitude, history of insecticide use nor date of sampling. Combined with the number of bubonic plague cases, our results suggest that an immediate switch to an insecticide other than Deltamethrin is required for plague vector control in Madagascar.

Pre-invasion history and demography shape the genetic variation in the insecticide resistance-related acetylcholinesterase 2 gene in the invasive Colorado potato beetle

BackgroundInvasive pest species offers a unique opportunity to study the effects of genetic architecture, demography and selection on patterns of genetic variability. Invasive Colorado potato beetle (Leptinotarsa decemlineata) populations have experienced a rapid range expansion and intense selection by insecticides. By comparing native and invasive beetle populations, we studied the origins of organophosphate (OP) resistance-associated mutations in the acetylcholinesterase 2 (AChE2) gene, and the role of selection and demography on its genetic variability.ResultsAnalysis of three Mexican, two US and five European populations yielded a total of 49 haplotypes. Contrary to the expectations all genetic variability was associated with a point mutation linked to insecticide resistance (S291G), this mutation was found in 100% of Mexican, 95% of US and 71% of European beetle sequences analysed. Only two susceptible haplotypes, genetically very differentiated, were found, one in US and one in Europe. The genetic variability at the AChE2 gene was compared with two other genes not directly affected by insecticide selection, diapause protein 1 and juvenile hormone esterase. All three genes showed reduction in genetic variability indicative of a population bottleneck associated with the invasion.ConclusionsStochastic effects during invasion explain most of the observed patterns of genetic variability at the three genes investigated. The high frequency of the S291G mutation in the AChE2 gene among native populations suggests this mutation is the ancestral state and thus, either a pre-adaptation of the beetle for OP resistance or the AChE2 is not the major gene conferring OP resistance. The long historical association with host plant alkaloids together with recombination may have contributed to the high genetic variation at this locus. The genetic diversity in the AChE2 locus of the European beetles, in turn, strongly reflects founder effects followed by rapid invasion. Our results suggest that despite the long history of insecticide use in this species, demographic events together with pre-invasion history have been strongly influential in shaping the genetic diversity of the AChE2 gene in the invasive beetle populations.

Broad-spectrum insecticide resistance in obliquebanded leafroller Choristoneura rosaceana (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae) from Michigan.

Nineteen insecticides, belonging to nine chemical classes, were bioassayed by dietary exposure against two strains of obliquebanded leafroller, Choristoneura rosaceana, collected from Michigan apple orchards. Berrien is a putatively organophosphate-resistant strain from a commercial orchard with a history of insecticide use, and Kalamazoo a susceptible strain from an isolated and unsprayed orchard. The Berrien strain was moderately resistant (about 25-fold) to organophosphates such as azinphos-methyl and chlorpyrifos. Very low resistance (< 10-fold) was also observed to pyrethroids such as cypermethrin, zeta-cypermethrin, bifenthrin, deltamethrin and esfenvalerate, to the ecdysone agonists tebufenozide and methoxyfenozide, and to the chlorinated pyrrole chlorfenapyr. Endosulfan and carbamates such as thiodicarb, methomyl and carbaryl had low intrinsic toxicities against both strains, with little difference in sensitivity between them. There was no resistance to spinosad. Emamectin benzoate was found to be the most toxic insecticide against C rosaceana, with slightly higher lethal doses required for the Berrien strain. Unexpectedly, Berrien exhibited a very high level of resistance (> 700-fold) to indoxacarb, which has never been used in Michigan to control this insect pest. The active metabolite of indoxacarb, DCJW, was considerably more toxic than the parent compound, but the resistance against DCJW was comparable to that seen with indoxacarb. This indicates that a failure to activate indoxacarb was not the mechanism of resistance in Berrien. The low level of resistance to several chemistries recorded in Michigan C rosaceana can be managed at this stage by adopting a rotation of chemistries having different modes of action.

Resistance management strategies in malaria vector mosquito control. A large-scale field trial in Southern Mexico

A resistance management programme comparing rotations, mosaics and single use of insecticides for residual house-spraying against the insect vectors of malaria is being carried out in Southern Mexico. The area was chosen because of its prior history of insecticide use, relatively sedentary vector, and physical features of the area which limit inward migration of insects to the study area. A high level of resistance to DDT and low levels of organophosphorus (OP), carbamate and pyrethroid resistance were detected by WHO discriminating-dose assays in field populations of Anopheles albimanus in the pre-spray period in the region where this resistance management project is being undertaken. After the first year of spraying, resistance, as measured by a discriminating-dose assay, was still at a high level for DDT and had risen for all the other insecticides. Biochemical assays showed that DDT resistance was primarily caused by elevated levels of glutathione S-transferase (GST) activity leading to increased rates of metabolism of DDT to DDE. The numbers of individuals with elevated GST and DDT resistance were well correlated, suggesting that this is the only major DDT resistance mechanism in this population. The carbamate resistance in this population was conferred by an altered acetylcholinesterase (AChE) mechanism. The level of resistance in bioassays correlated well with the frequency of individuals homozygous for the altered AChE allele. This suggests that the level of resistance conferred by this mechanism in its heterozygous state is below the level of detection of the bioassay. The low levels of OP and pyrethroid resistance could be conferred by either the elevated esterase or monooxygenase enzymes. The esterases, however, are elevated only with p-nitrophenyl acetate (PNPA), and are unlikely to be causing broad-spectrum OP resistance. The altered AChE mechanism may also be contributing to the OP but not the pyrethroid resistance. There were significant differences in some resistance gene frequencies for insects obtained by different indoor and outdoor trapping methods. To determine whether the different sampling methods were effectively sampling the same interbreeding population, RAPD analysis of insects obtained by different collection methods in different villages was undertaken. There was no observed variability in the RAPD patterns for the different mosquito samples with a number of primers. ©1997 SCI

Selection, inheritance and characterization of carbofuran resistance in the Colorado potato beetle (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae)

AbstractThe objectives were to select for resistance to carbofuran in a susceptible field population of Colorado potato beetles, Leptinotarsa decemlineata (Say), assess the progression of resistance, and characterize the inheritance and possible mechanism of resistance. Initial selection in the field resulted in over 99.9% mortality of treated larvae but high resistance in the survivors. Subsequent laboratory selection at c.80% mortality increased resistance to &gt; 100‐fold by the fourth generation. Low level cross‐resistance to azinphos‐methyl was also present. Resistance appeared to be inherited via a single, autosomal, incompletely dominant gene, resulting in decreased acetylcholinesterase sensitivity. A second Michigan population also appeared to exhibit reduced cholinesterase sensitivity. Resistance to carbofuran in a Colorado potato beetle population from Long Island, NY appears to involve primarily mixed‐function oxidase enzymes. The history of insecticide use probably affects which primary resistance mechanism appears in response to carbofuran treatment.

Intraspecific Variation in Levels of Pesticide Resistance in Field Populations of a Parasitoid, Aphytis melinus (Hymenoptera: Aphelinidae): The Role of Past Selection Pressures

Thirteen populations of Aphytis melinus DeBach, a key biological control agent of California red scale, Aonidiella aurantii (Maskell), were collected from the citrus-growing regions of California. Each population’s history of exposure to insecticides was estimated by determining history of insecticide use at both local (in-grove) and regional (county-wide) geographical scales. Concentration/mortality regressions for five insecticides widely used in citrus were estimated for the populations. For each chemical, substantial variability existed in the responses of different populations. LC50’s were correlated with both in-grove and county-wide pesticide use histories; patterns of variability were best explained by results of a multiple regression analysis that combined the influences of these two histories. Roles of food limitation, migration, and host distribution in determining patterns and rates of evolution of pesticide resistance in arthropod biological control agents are discussed.

Survey of resistance to insecticides among screwworm (Diptera: Calliphoridae) populations from various geographical regions.

When eggs of various strains of the screwworm, Cochliomvia hominivorax (Coquerel), were treated with a coumaphos emulsion, resistance was as follows: 1.0- to 2.0-fold (SW USA), 3.0- fold (EI Salvador), 4.9- to 11.3-fold (NE Mexico), 5.6- to 10.2-fold (NW Mexico), and 78.1-fold (Jamaica). The pattern seemed to correlate with a history of insecticide use in the areas of origin. The resistance of the Jamaica population was recessive and not controlled by a single major gene, as indicated by the F1 hybrids. Further intense selection of the Jamaica strain failed to increase the shallow slopes of the dosage-mortality regression lines. Attempts at selecting insecticide-resistant strains from adults of laboratory populations (Aricruz strain) by using very high selection pressures (75 to 95% mortality) with insecticide-treated food proved futile. Over five to six generations the maximum tolerance seen were 1.0- to 2.1-fold to DDT, 1.5- to 6.5-fold to dieldrin, 1.7- to 1.8-fold to propoxur, and 5.0- to 6.5-fold to coumaphos. Other selection with adults of the GD1 strain (from NW Mexico)under pressure with DDT or coumahos over 8 or 11 generations suggested great diversity in tolerance but no resistance.

Tolerances of Two Populations of Ring-Necked Pheasants to DDT

Tolerance to DDT of a population of ring-necked pheasants (Phasianus colchicus) occupying an area to which DDT was applied for 8 years, and of a population inhabiting a nearby area with no history of insecticide use was investigated during 1966-68. Median lethal concentrations (LC5o) of technical DDT in diets of week-old chicks indicated that progeny from the unexposed population were sig- nificantly more tolerant to DDT than progeny from the exposed population (P < 0.025). Levels of tol- erance could not be explained on the basis of amounts of DDT residues passed to young through eggs, lengths of time that parents were in captivity, or to the number of generations in captivity. If DDT acted as a selective force on the population of pheasants occupying the area treated with DDT, differ- ences in tolerance of the two populations must have been greater prior to use of DDT on the treated area. Abstract: Tolerance to DDT of a population of ring-necked pheasants (Phasianus colchicus) occupying an area to which DDT was applied for 8 years, and of a population inhabiting a nearby area with no history of insecticide use was investigated during 1966-68. Median lethal concentrations (LC5o) of technical DDT in diets of week-old chicks indicated that progeny from the unexposed population were sig- nificantly more tolerant to DDT than progeny from the exposed population (P < 0.025). Levels of tol- erance could not be explained on the basis of amounts of DDT residues passed to young through eggs, lengths of time that parents were in captivity, or to the number of generations in captivity. If DDT acted as a selective force on the population of pheasants occupying the area treated with DDT, differ- ences in tolerance of the two populations must have been greater prior to use of DDT on the treated area. This is a report on levels of tolerance to DDT (nomenclature for chemical insecti- cides is that of Kenaga and Allison 1969) exhibited by two populations of ring-necked pheasants. One population inhabited an area to which technical DDT was applied annually for 8 years; the other inhabited an area which had no history of agricultural applications of chlorinated hydrocarbon in- secticides.