Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 May;77(5):2539-2546.
doi: 10.1002/ps.6288. Epub 2021 Feb 6.

Selection for resistance to pyrethroids in the predator Orius laevigatus

Virginia Balanza  1 , José E Mendoza  1 , Dina Cifuentes  1   2 , Pablo Bielza  1   2
Affiliations

Selection for resistance to pyrethroids in the predator Orius laevigatus

Virginia Balanza et al. Pest Manag Sci. 2021 May.

Abstract

Background: Insecticide resistance in the natural enemies of pest species is a very desirable trait. It allows better integration of biological control with the synthetic and natural compounds applied to manage certain pests, especially secondary pest outbreaks. Insecticide resistance in predatory insects has been documented for lady beetles and lacewings, but intriguingly no cases of field-evolved resistance have been noted in any heteropteran predator. In this work, we first explored the variation in susceptibility to pyrethroids in wild and commercial populations of Orius laevigatus (Fieber). Second, we exploited this genetic variation to artificially select a strain of O. laevigatus resistant to pyrethroids.

Results: We found significant variation [median lethal dose (LC50 ) 1.6-77.0 mg L-1 ] in susceptibility to pyrethroids in wild populations of the heteropteran predator O. laevigatus, with a baseline LC50 value of 14.6 mg L-1 . We successfully selected a strain of O. laevigatus highly resistant to pyrethroids (LC50 = 1059.9 mg L-1 ). In addition, such resistance was expressed in every instar, particularly in the last nymphal stages, increasing the resilience of the whole population present in the crop facing pyrethroid application.

Conclusion: The level of resistance achieved may be sufficient to allow survival of adults and nymphs of O. laevigatus exposed to the maximum field rate of several pyrethroids and natural pyrethrins, widely used to control a number of pests in organic and integrated pest management crops. Therefore, this strain resistant to pyrethrins and pyrethroids would improve the resilience of biocontrol protocols, which is an urgent requirement for wider adoption of biological control. © 2021 Society of Chemical Industry.

Keywords: biological control agent; genetic improvement; genetic variability; insecticide resistance; natural enemy; pyrethrins; selective breeding.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

REFERENCES

    1. Calvo FJ, Bolckmans K and Belda JE, Biological control based IPM in sweet pepper greenhouses using Amblyseius swirskii (Acari: Phytoseiidae). Biocontrol Sci Technol 22:1398-1416 (2012).
    1. Van Lenteren JC, Alomar O, Ravensberg WJ and Urbaneja A, Integrated pest and disease management in greenhouse crops, in Integrated Pest and Disease Management in Greenhouse Crops, Plant Pathology in the 21st Century, ed. by Gullino ML, Albajes R and Nicot PC. Springer International, Cham, pp. 409-439 (2020).
    1. Bielza P, Balanza V, Cifuentes D and Mendoza JE, Challenges facing arthropod biological control: identifying traits for genetic improvement of predators in protected crops. Pest Manag Sci 76:3517-3526 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1002/ps.5857.
    1. Roditakis E, Vasakis E, García-Vidal L, Martínez-Aguirre MR, Rison JL, Haxaire-Lutun MO et al., A four-year survey on insecticide resistance and likelihood of chemical control failure for tomato leaf miner Tuta absoluta in the European/Asian region. J Pest Sci 91:421-435 (2018).
    1. Biondi A, Mommaerts GV, Smagghe E, Viñuela L and Zappalà ND, The non-target impact of spinosyns on beneficial arthropods. Pest Manag Sci 68:1523-1536 (2012).

LinkOut - more resources