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Title: Fall Armyworm susceptibility to Bollgard I, Bollgard II, and Widestrike cotton as determined by a leaf-dish assay.

Author
item Armstrong, John
item Adamczyk, John
item Greenberg, Shoil

Submitted to: Entomological Society of America Proceedings
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 1/10/2007
Publication Date: 2/19/2007
Citation: Armstrong, J.S., Adamczyk Jr, J.J., Greenberg, S.M. 2007. Fall Armyworm susceptibility to Bollgard I, Bollgard II, and Widestrike cotton as determined by a leaf-dish assay.. Entomological Society of America Proceedings.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: The Fall armyworm Spodoptera frugiperda (J.E. Smith), has received little attention as boll weevil eradication progresses into the second full season in the Rio Grande Valley of South Texas. Cotton varieties containing the endotoxins from Bacillus thuringiensis (Cry1Ac = Bollgard®, Cry1Ac + Cry1Ab = Bollgard®, Cry1F + Cry1Ac = Widestrike™) are available to help producers avoid devastating economic losses from lepidopteran pests, however, the adoption and use of this technology in South Texas has been limited. We evaluated the susceptibility of fall armyworms to the single (Bollgard I) and the stacked (Bollgard II and Widestrike) technology using leaf-tissue assay, and found that Bollgard II® and Widestrike™ are highly effective against fall armyworm in causing mortality and rendering the insect a non-threat by stopping their feeding, but Bollgard I was not significantly different from the check in terms of mortality or feeding. Our evaluations will continue to determine what the sublethal affects of the toxicants are on the biology of the fall armyworm, and to further evaluate the efficacy.