ARS | Publication request: Developing Practical Recommendations for Managing Insect Resistance to Bt Transgenic Maize

Submitted to: XXI International Congress of Entomology, Proceedings
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: August 26, 2001
Publication Date: N/A

Technical Abstract: Managing resistance of insects to Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) transgenic maize is necessary because Bt maize is valuable and all stakeholders want to preserve its efficacy. Currently, the high-dose/refuge strategy is the resistance management strategy of choice. There are potential problems with this strategy, yet research is underway to try to better define these problems and to offer solutions. A Regional Research Committee has fostere dialog between industry, producers, academics and regulators. The NC205 committee formally addresses research on the 'Ecology and Management of European Corn Borer and Other Stalk-Boring Lepidoptera.' For the past six years this committee has sponsored several meetings and symposia with industry and the Environmental Protection Agency to discuss insect resistance management issues. The NC205 Resistance Management meeting provides a forum for all parties to discuss general and specific issues concerning managing the resistance of European corn borer, Ostrinia nubilalis. The meetings have provided opportunities for sharing information, fine-tuning programs, establishing research priorities, reducing redundancies, and building understanding among participants. The dialogue has allowed the committee to identify science-based practical resistance management strategies. The importance of resistance management strategies that are practical cannot be overemphasized because NC205 recognizes that the ultimate stewards of the Bt technology are the growers. So the committee has tried, whenever possible and without compromising the scientific integrity of resistance management, to consider grower realities. Topics discussed include monitoring for insect resistance, education, extension, grower surveys, managing resistance of other insects