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Broad-scale suppression of cotton bollworm, Helicoverpa armigera (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae), associated with Bt cotton crops in Northern New South Wales, Australia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 November 2016

G.H. Baker  and
C.R. Tann
G.H. Baker*
Affiliation:
CSIRO Agriculture & Food, GPO Box 1700, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia
C.R. Tann
Affiliation:
CSIRO Agriculture & Food, Locked Bag 59, Narrabri, NSW 2390, Australia
*
*Author for correspondence Phone: +61 2 6246 4406 Fax: +61 2 6246 4094 E-mail: Geoff.Baker@csiro.au
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Abstract

The cotton bollworm, Helicoverpa armigera, is a major pest of many agricultural crops in several countries, including Australia. Transgenic cotton, expressing a single Bt toxin, was first used in the 1990s to control H. armigera and other lepidopteran pests. Landscape scale or greater pest suppression has been reported in some countries using this technology. However, a long-term, broad-scale pheromone trapping program for H. armigera in a mixed cropping region in eastern Australia caught more moths during the deployment of single Bt toxin cotton (Ingard®) (1996–2004) than in previous years. This response can be attributed, at least in part, to (1) a precautionary cap (30% of total cotton grown, by area) being applied to Ingard® to restrict the development of Bt resistance in the pest, and (2) during the Ingard® era, cotton production greatly increased (as did that of another host plant, sorghum) and H. armigera (in particular the 3rd and older generations) responded in concert with this increase in host plant availability. However, with the replacement of Ingard® with Bollgard II® cotton (containing two different Bt toxins) in 2005, and recovery of the cotton industry from prevailing drought, H. armigera failed to track increased host-plant supply and moth numbers decreased. Greater toxicity of the two gene product, introduction of no cap on Bt cotton proportion, and an increase in natural enemy abundance are suggested as the most likely mechanisms responsible for the suppression observed.

Keywords

Helicoverpa armigerapheromone trapsabundanceBt cottonweather
Type
Research Papers
Information
Bulletin of Entomological Research , Volume 107 , Issue 2 , April 2017 , pp. 188 - 199
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Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2016 

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