HOST PLANT INFLUENCE ON THE REPRODUCTIVE ECOLOGY OF THE GLASSY-WINGED SHARPSHOOTER AND ITS SUSCEPTIBILITY TO INSECTICIDES

• Author(s): Castle, Steven; Prabhaker, Nilima; Toscano, Nick;
• Abstract: Few examples of certain pests in the literature of susceptibility changes according to dietary intakes, i.e. different host plants, leads to the question of whether plant species utilized by glassy-winged sharpshooter (GWSS) are potentially influencing its susceptibility to insecticides. As a widely polyphagous species, GWSS likely encounters a diversity of plant compounds even though it feeds principally on less-concentrated xylem fluid. Secondary plant compounds are translocated within vascular tissues and are ingested by vascular feeders. If insecticide toxicities to GWSS vary according to host plant, then the magnitude of potential differences should be elucidated to more clearly understand the performance of insecticides being used against GWSS. Knowledge of susceptibility differences due to host plants, or any other factor that could potentially alter susceptibility, is essential to avoid misleading conclusions concerning the relative effectiveness of a particular insecticide. The more that is understood about how a principal method of control operates in the environment against the pest, the stronger will be an IPM program based on the recognition of how well each component performs. The key to accomplishing efficiency in chemical control is to know the ecology of the target pest, make appropriate insecticide selections according to the conditions of the crop, and time the application to attack the life stage(s) most vulnerable to the specific activity of the insecticide.
• Publication Date: Aug 2003
• Journal: 2003 Pierce's Disease Research Symposium