DEVELOPMENT OF INSECTICIDAL RESISTANCE AND ITS STATUS IN INDIA

M. Balaji Rajkumar1 and M. Punithavalli2

1Scientist, 2Scientist,

Central Institute for Subtropical Horticulture, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh Sugarcane Breeding Institute, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu

A panel of World Health Organisation experts defined resistance as the development of an ability in a strain of insect to tolerate doses of toxicant which would prove lethal to the majority of individuals in a normal population of the same species (WHO, 1957). Insecticide resistance poses a severe threat to agricultural productivity in India and other countries of the world. Humans have had the ingenuity to develop thousands of pesticides to protect foodstuffs, livestock and health but the use of these poisons has triggered a rapid evolutionary response in many target and non-target species of invertebrates. Resistance to insecticides develops mainly because of their intensive use in situations that would otherwise favour rapid pest build up. The insect should be viewed as resistance when, the product for which resistance is being claimed carries a use recommendation against the particular pest mentioned and has a history of successful performance. Product failure is not a consequence of incorrect storage, dilution or application and is not due to unusual climatic or environmental conditions. The recommended dosages fail to suppress the pest populations below the level of economic threshold Failure to control is due to a heritable change in the susceptibility of the pest populations of the product (IRAC, 2006). Resistance to insecticides develops mainly because of their intensive use in situations that would otherwise favor rapid pest build up. There are three phases in the development of insecticide resistance in a population. First when the frequency of resistant insects is very low (one in a million or more) and the insecticide give satisfactory control. Second with the continuous use of the same or related insecticide the frequency of resistant individual increases leading to occasional crop failures and third with the continuous pressure of insecticides there is a large increase in the number of resistant individuals in the population and the insecticide becomes ineffective (Mehrotra and Phokela, 2000)

There are some cases of resistance were recorded from 1914 2010 there were 43 species recorded resistance against different insecticides and resistance cases recorded approximately 130. During the year 1998 there were 66 cases recorded includes five major pests of cotton (S. litura 9 cases, P. gossypiella 14, Plutella xylostella 8, H. armigera 2, B. tabaci 6). This might be due to abuse of insecticides on cotton in India. (pesticide resistance data base). Year 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 No of cases recorded 0 1 1 2 4 4 11 66 1 5 Year 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 No of cases recorded 0 5 0 1 0 2 2 1 0 0

There are few cases of development of resistance even against biopesticides in the world and are given below. SPECIES RESISTANCE TO Bt FORMULATIONS - EXAMPLES Species Plodia interpunctella (Mc Gaughey, 1985) Plutelll xylostella (Tabshnik, 1990) Bt Kurstaki Bt aizwai Field Cry 1 Aa Cry 1 Ac Cry 1 Ca Reduced binding Field Cry 1 Ab Reduced binding Type Dipel Environment Storage bin/ lab Toxin Cry 1Ab Mechanism Reduced binding

Altered binding site

Heliothis virescens

Dipel

Lab

Cry 1 Ab

Increased detoxification and altered binding site

Cry 1 Ac Cry 1 Ca

Increased cell repair Non specific binding

FIELD RESISTANCE AGAINST BT TRANSGENICS Field resistance occurs in an isolated population of different locations SPECIES Helicoverpa zea Spodoptera frugiperda Busseola fusca Pectinophora gossypiella Reported by Monsanto India. ENVIRONMENT Field USA (Mississipi) Bt cotton Field- Puerto Rico - Bt corn Field South Africa Bt corn Field Gujarat, India Bt cotton Cry 1 Ac TOXIN Cry 1 Ac Cry 1 F Cry 1 Ab

By following proper insecticide resistance management strategies, the development of resistance could be avoided or delaying it. References Insecticide Resistance Action Committee. 2006. A manual: Prevention and management of insecticide resistance in vectors and pests of public health importance. www.iarc-online.org. Mehrotra K. N. and A. Phokela. 2000. Insecticide resistance in insect pests: Current status and fure strategies. In: Dhaliwal, G. S. and Singh, B. (Eds.) Pesticides and Environment. Common wealth Publishers, New Delhi. pp 39-83.
Pesticide resistance data base: www.pesticideresistance.org.