The potential for the development of resistance to sex pheromone-based mating disruption was tested on laboratory-derived populations of Trichoplusia ni (Hübner). Normal and mutant pheromone strains of T. ni were used in a field experiment to test the hypothesis that atmospheric treatment with the normal sex pheromone blend would result in an increased frequency of the mutant phenotype in the population. Selection with the normal pheromone blend as a mating disruptant resulted in a divergence in the proportion of females exhibiting the mutant phenotype in the control and disruptant-treated populations. By the fourth generation, the proportion of females with the mutant phenotype was significantly greater in the treated populations (31.0%) than in the control populations (18.1%). These results suggest that the normal pheromone blend applied as a mating disruptant provided selection pressure that influenced the frequency of the mutant allele in the population. Continuous application of such a treatment may provide selection pressure that could result in an alteration of the communication system and potential for the development of resistance to the pheromone-based mating disruption tactic.
Species 1: Lepidoptera Noctuidae Trichoplusia ni (cabbage looper)
Keywords: mating disruption, resistance
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