Pesticide Research Journal

Cotton, Gossypium hirsutum L is a main fiber crop of India and is very much affected by insect pests. Among these, whitefly, Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius) has attained a status of key pest and the main reliance has been on the use of insecticides for its management. Thus, it is imperative to test the level of resistance to design a successful insecticide resistance management program. During kharif seasons of 2016 and 2017, an investigation was conducted for monitoring of insecticide resistance in field population of whitefly on Bt cotton in Punjab to triazophos, diafenthiuron, pyriproxyfen, ethion, spiromesifen, flonicamid, buprofezin from three different locations namely Ludhiana, Mansa and Fazilka. During 2016, low resistance was recorded to ethion (1.90-7.25); low to moderate resistance to triazophos (6.63-19.24) and pyriproxyfen (3.5-15.75); moderate levels of resistance to flonicamid (12.5-17-and 24); very low to high level of resistance to buprofezin (5.6-3.5-and 93) and low to high resistance to spiromesifen (1.8-33.3). Similarly during 2017, low resistance was recorded to ethion (1.06-2.70) and triazophos (1.20-6.53); low to high resistance to pyriproxyfen (1.4-46.5) and spiromesifen (3.75-31.6); moderate to high resistance to flonicamid (20-43.5) and buprofezin (19.2-67.8).