No evidence for change in oviposition behaviour of Helicoverpa armigera (Hübner) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) after widespread adoption of transgenic insecticidal cotton

Cotton growing landscapes in Australia have been dominated by dual-toxin transgenic Bt varieties since 2004. The cotton crop has thus effectively become a sink for the main target pest, Helicoverpa armigera. Theory predicts that there should be strong selection on female moths to avoid laying on suc...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Bulletin of entomological research 2012-08, Vol.102 (4), p.468-476
Main Authors: Zalucki, M.P., Cunningham, J.P., Downes, S., Ward, P., Lange, C., Meissle, M., Schellhorn, N.A., Zalucki, J.M.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adoption
Agronomy. Soil science and plant productions
Animal populations
Animal reproduction
Animals
Australia
Behavior, Animal - drug effects
Biological and medical sciences
Brassica
Butterflies & moths
Cotton
Crops
Crops, Agricultural - parasitology
Eggs
Female
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Genetic engineering applications
Genetics and breeding of economic plants
Gossypium - genetics
Helicoverpa armigera
Host plants
Insecta
Invertebrates
Landscape
Lepidoptera
Moths - drug effects
Moths - genetics
Nicotiana
Noctuidae
Oviposition
Oviposition - drug effects
Pest control
Pests
Plant breeding: fundamental aspects and methodology
Plants, Genetically Modified
Tobacco
Toxins
Transgenic plants
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Summary:Cotton growing landscapes in Australia have been dominated by dual-toxin transgenic Bt varieties since 2004. The cotton crop has thus effectively become a sink for the main target pest, Helicoverpa armigera. Theory predicts that there should be strong selection on female moths to avoid laying on such plants. We assessed oviposition, collected from two cotton-growing regions, by female moths when given a choice of tobacco, cotton and cabbage. Earlier work in the 1980s and 1990s on populations from the same geographic locations indicated these hosts were on average ranked as high, mid and low preference plants, respectively, and that host rankings had a heritable component. In the present study, we found no change in the relative ranking of hosts by females, with most eggs being laid on tobacco, then cotton and least on cabbage. As in earlier work, some females laid most eggs on cotton and aspects of oviposition behaviour had a heritable component. Certainly, cotton is not avoided as a host, and the implications of these finding for managing resistance to Bt cotton are discussed.
ISSN:0007-4853
1475-2670
1475-2670
DOI:10.1017/S0007485311000848