Fall armyworm (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae): practical resistance of 2 Brazilian populations to Cry1A.105 + Cry2Ab and Cry1F Bt maize.

In the Americas, transgenic crops producing insecticidal proteins from Bacillus thuringiensis Berliner (Bt, Bacillales: Bacillaceae) have been used widely to manage fall armyworm (FAW, Spodoptera frugiperda [J.E. Smith]).

Seed treatment for managing fall armyworm as a defoliator and cutworm on maize: plant protection, residuality, and the insect life history.

Background: The highly polyphagous and invasive fall armyworm (FAW, Spodoptera frugiperda) can feed on different plant parts of host crops, damaging whorls and stalks in early maize growth stages. Systemic insecticide seed treatment (IST) could minimize this damage, although the residual efficacy may vary with the plant tissue damaged. Using damage rating scales and artificial infestation in controlled conditions, we determined the potential of IST against FAW attacking maize whorl leaves or the stalk base.

Like Parents, Like Offspring? Susceptibility to Bt Toxins, Development on Dual-Gene Bt Cotton, and Parental Effect of Cry1Ac on a Nontarget Lepidopteran Pest.

An important step to devise appropriate pest management strategies for armyworms (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) in Bacillus thuringiensis Berliner (Bt) crops is to determine the lethal, sublethal, and parental effects of Bt toxins on target and nontarget pest species. Here we documented the susceptibility of black armyworm, Spodoptera cosmioides (Walker), to three Cry toxins and its life-history traits feeding on dual-toxin Bt cotton and an artificial diet containing sublethal concentrations of Cry1Ac. In concentration-response bioassays, black armyworm larvae showed low susceptibility to Cry toxins, with 853 ng/cm2 as the lowest value estimated for the median lethal concentration (LC50).

Host-Plant Resistance to Spittlebugs: A Life-Table Study With Mahanarva fimbriolata (Hemipera: Cercopidae) in Sugarcane Genotypes.

Understanding how host-crop genotypes affect the life history of insect pests is important for developing and using varietal resistance as a pest control measure. Here we determined how wild and cultivated sugarcane genotypes affect key life-history traits and the demographic performance of the root spittlebug, Mahanarva fimbriolata (Stål; Hemiptera: Cercopidae), a major pest of sugarcane, which produces most of the world's sugar and bioethanol. In the greenhouse, plants of four sugarcane genotypes (two wild and two cultivated) were infested with newly-ecloded spittlebug nymphs.