Need
information about pesticide use? Looking for tips about water conservation?
There is
a good chance you’ll find the answers via your smart phone, tablet or personal
computer. Over the next few weeks, we’re going to highlight some useful online
resources covering timely farm topics.
This
week, we cover pesticide resistance management.
First, let’s give you a little background.
Following the introduction of
synthetic organic insecticides in the 1940s, such as DDT, it was not long
before the first cases of resistance were detected and by 1947, resistance to
DDT was confirmed in houseflies.
 |
| DDT was an early case of pesticide resistance. |
Thereafter,
with every new insecticide introduction, cyclodienes, organophosphates,
carbamates, formamidines, pyrethroids, Bacillus thuringiensis,
spinosynsandneonicotinoids, cases of resistance appeared some 2 to 20 years
after their introduction in a number of key pest species.
 |
| Spraying in an almond orchard. |
This phenomenon has been
described as the “pesticide treadmill” and the sequence is familiar. As a
result of continued applications over time the pest evolves resistance to the
insecticide and the resistant strain becomes increasingly difficult to control
at the labeled rate and frequency. This in turn has often led to more frequent
applications of the insecticide.
The
intensity of the resistance and the frequency of insecticide-resistant
individuals in the population increase problems of control which continue to
worsen as yet more product is applied. Eventually users switch to another
pesticide if one is available. The genetics of theheritable resistance traits
and the intensive repeated application of pesticides together are responsible
for the rapid build-up of resistance in most insects and mites.
Pesticide resistance management
is an effort to slow or prevent the development of resistance. It relies on
pest management and pesticide-use strategies to prolong the effective life of
pesticides.
Pesticide
Resistance (from IRAC website – Insecticide Action Resistance Committee)
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| Spraying taking place in a cotton field. |
The
Insecticide Action Resistance Committee (IRAC) offers a video that is a grower-focused, animated and diagrammatic explanation of insecticide resistance
and its management from CropLife International and the Insecticide Resistance
Action Committee. The video is available in English, Chinese, Mandarin, Spanish or Portuguese.
The
University of California Statewide Integrated Pest Management Program offers an
online course featuring the latest advances in pest management and related
topics. Some courses are approved by the state Department of Pesticide
Regulation for continuing education credits. Some also are approved for credit
from the Structural Pest Control Board.
The
online learning courses are geared toward pest control advisers and other
licensed pesticide applicators to teach about fungicide resistance, insecticide
resistance, and herbicide resistance. It provides information on the
mechanisms of pesticide resistance and how it has developed as well as
information on managing or delaying resistance.
The
Sustainable Cotton Project website provides online links to various grower resources.
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