Resistance to spirotetramat in silverleaf whitefly. What’s happening in cotton?

Abstract

Silverleaf whitefly (Bemisia tabaci) are a major pest of many crops with a capacity to evolve resistance to insecticides that has made managing them challenging. Spirotetramat (a Group 23 insecticide) was first registered for use in Australia in 2009, and annual surveillance for resistance in whitefly commenced shortly thereafter, with the initial detection in 2016 from the predominantly horticultural regions of Ayr and Bowen. Resistant individuals were first recorded in cotton during 2019 and while resistance remained low and rare for several seasons, our most recent surveillance data shows the presence of resistant populations in cotton is becoming more widespread.

In this presentation we will discuss how both bioassay and genomic approaches have been used to detect resistance to spirotetramat and explore options that could be adopted to manage the evolution of resistance to spirotetramat and other insecticides in the cotton industry