ARS | Publication request: Suppressing resistance to Bt crops without refuges: fact or folly?

Submitted to: Entomological Society of America Annual Meeting
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: July 25, 2010
Publication Date: December 12, 2010
Citation: Tabashnik, B., Sisterson, M.S., Antilla, L., Fabrick, J.A., Carriere, Y., Liesner, L., Staten, R. 2010. Suppressing resistance to Bt crops without refuges: fact or folly?. Entomological Society of America Annual Meeting abstracts. Available: http://esa.confex.com/esa/2010/webprogram/Paper50042.html.

Technical Abstract: The predominant strategy for delaying insect resistance to transgenic insecticidal crops requires refuges of non-transgenic host plants to provide susceptible insects for mating with resistant insects. Here, an alternative strategy where sterile insects are released to mate with resistant insects is described. Computer simulations show that the sterile release strategy works in principle against pests with recessive or dominant inheritance of resistance. Field data from Arizona testing the sterile release strategy against pink bollworm (Pectinophora gossypiella), a major cotton pest, show suppression of resistance to transgenic insecticidal cotton as well as greater than 99% decreases in infestation of cotton and insecticide sprays against pink bollworm.