Situation and perspectives of insect resistance management (IRM) in Bt crops in Argentina

GARCÍA DEGANO, FLORENCIA; HERRERO, MARÍA INÉS; GASTAMINZA, GERARDO; CASMUZ, AUGUSTO S.; VERA, ALEJANDRO MARTÍN; MURÚA, MARIA GABRIELA; FOGLIATA, SOFÍA V.; WILLINK, EDUARDO

Orlando

Congreso; XXV International Congress of Entomology; 2016

Entomological society of America

Argentina is the third largest producer of genetically modified (GM) crops, after the United States of America and Brazil. Since 1998, the crops containing genes from Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) that express insecticidal proteins to control specific target pests have been commercially released and widely adopted because of their high efficacy and ease of use for producers in Argentina. Bt corn has become a valuable control agent for Diatraea saccharalis (Lep.: Crambidae) and Spodoptera frugiperda (Lep.: Noctuidae), the most important pests of this crop. During the 2012/13 field season in northeast San Luis province (Argentina), unexpected damage produced by D. saccharalis on MON 89034 x MON 88017 and TC1507 were found. On the other hand, in the 2012/13 and 2013/14 field seasons, damage caused by S. frugiperda in several corn hybrids were reported in different regions of Argentina. All of these early reports motivated studies to confirm the resistance and to design a mitigation plan. Preliminary results showed that the low performance of the MON 89034 and TC1507 based technology reported in San Luis corresponds to a significant shift in the susceptibility of D. saccharalis to the protein Cry1A.105 and Cry1F respectively. Similar studies are being made for S. frugiperda, which would confirm that this species is significantly less sensitive to the Cry1F protein. The implementation of resistance management strategies is urgent in order to preserve this technology as well as the pyramided events with Cry1A.105 and Cry1F proteins in Argentina.