We use a regulatory model with resistance evolution in two pests to insecticidal Bt cotton and pyrethroids (a conventional insecticide) to examine non-Bt cotton (refuge) planting requirements designed to manage Bt-resistance evolution in the midsouth. Our analysis suggests that reduced refuge requirements would enhance producer profitability, sprayed refugia are more cost effective than unspray...

Transgenic crops producing Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) toxins kill some key insect pests, but evolution of resistance by pests can reduce their efficacy. The predominant strategy for delaying pest resistance to Bt crops requires refuges of non-Bt host plants to promote survival of susceptible pests. To delay pest resistance to transgenic cotton producing Bt toxin Cry1Ac, farmers in the United S...

Secondary plant metabolites are potentially of great value for providing robust resistance in plants against insect pests. Such metabolites often comprise small lipophilic molecules (SLMs), and can be similar also in terms of activity to currently used insecticides, for example, the pyrethroids, neonicotinoids and butenolides, which provide more effective pest management than the resistance tra...

Large scale application of chemical pesticides to reduce the crop losses caused by insect pests and diseases, valued at over US$250 billion annually, has not only led to serious environmental hazards, but has also resulted in development of resistance to pesticides in pest populations. It is in this context that crop varieties capable of resisting pest damage will play a vital role in reducing ...

Host plant resistance assumes central role in pest management in order to increase production and productivity of the crops. Conventional breeding in conjunction with molecular techniques and transgenic approaches have a great promise to reduce pest associated crop losses, and accelerate the progress in developing cultivars with resistance to insects. Although, considerable progress has been ma...

Plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) belonging to Pseudomonas spp. are being exploited commercially for plant protection to induce systemic resistance against various pests and diseases. Mixtures of di!erent PGPR strains have resulted in increased e$cacy by inducing systemic resistance against several pathogens attacking the same crop. Seed-treatment with PGPR causes cell wall structural...

Increases in severity and frequency of drought periods, average global temperatures, and more erratic fluctuations in rainfall patterns due to climate change are predicted to have a dramatic impact on agricultural production systems. Insect pest populations in agricultural and horticultural systems are also expected to be impacted, both in terms of their spatial and temporal distributions and i...