Publications by authors named "Zunnu Raen Akhtar"

Tomato pinworm, (Meyrick) (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae) is the major pest of tomato crops in Pakistan. Insecticides are commonly used for the management of this insect-pest. To develop a better insecticide resistance management strategy and evaluate the risk of resistance evolution, a field collected population of the tomato pinworm was selected with flubendiamide in the laboratory.

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Heavy metal pollution in aquatic habitats can be detrimental to both prey and predators in a food web. To investigate the potential for bio-transfer and bioaccumulation of heavy metals between specific trophic levels, 3rd instar larvae of Aedes aegypti were exposed to mercury (Hg), lead (Pb), cadmium (Cd), copper (Cu), and zinc (Zn) for three consecutive generations and fed to dragonfly (Tramea cophysa) nymphs. Exposure to Hg caused the highest mortality in A.

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Cotesia flavipes Cameron is an important larval parasitoid exploited for the control of the spotted stem borer, Chilo partellus (Swinhoe). Several studies have evaluated the toxic effects of insecticides on C. partellus, however, little is known about non-target effects of insecticides on this parasitoid, when used to control C.

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In this study, the non-target effects of Bt rice "KMD2" expressing a Cry1Ab protein on the performance of the brown planthopper (BPH), Nilaparvata lugens, over multiple generations were evaluated under laboratory and field conditions. In the laboratory, BPH was reared to observe the impact of the Bt rice as compared to its parental non-Bt cultivar Xiushui 11, while the population dynamics and oviposition performance of BPH were investigated in the field. The survival of BPH nymphs fed Bt and non-Bt rice did not differ significantly.

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Background: The relationships between parasitoids and their insect hosts have attracted attention at two levels. First, the basic biology of host-parasitoid interactions is of fundamental interest. Second, parasitoids are widely used as biological control agents in sustainable agricultural programs.

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The susceptibilities of larvae of two rice stem borers, namely, Chilo suppressalis (Walker) (Lepidoptera: Crambidae) and Sesamia inferens (Walker) (Lepidoptera: Nocutidae) to fipronil and its metabolites were investigated, and then the activities of microsomal O-demethylase, and glutathione transferase (GST) in two species were measured. The metabolism of fipronil in both stem borers was determined in vivo and in vitro. The LD50 value of fipronil to S.

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