Insecticide resistance in European agriculture: research instead of rumours

摘要

Insecticide resistance and its management is one of the major challenging topics in modern applied agricultural and horticultural entomology. There are numerous compounds still providing excellent control, despite having being marketed for decades. Such insecticides are also known as so-called classics, e.g. organophosphates/carbamates and pyrethroids. They still accounted for more than 60% of the total global insecticide market in recent years. On the other hand there has been only one new chemicalclass with several commercialised individual compounds introduced to the market within the last 15 years. This is the neonicotinoid insecticides, acting on cholinergic nerve transmission by interfering agonistically with insect nicotinic acetylcholine receptors, whereas organophosphates/carbamates and pyrethroids act on acetylcholinesterase and voltage-gated sodium channels, respectively. These chemical classes together accounted for >75% of the total insecticide sales in 2003, and are therefore invaluable tools in sustainable agriculture, both in open-field and protected crops. The present article gives a few selected examples regarding the (on-going) development and management of resistance to neonicotinoid and pyrethroid insecticides in invertebratepests known to be high-risk organisms, or just as widespread pests not yet considered to be part of the former group. The cases described include the damson hop aphid, Phorodon humuli (Hemiptera: Aphididae), pollen beetles, Meligethes aeneus (Coleoptera