Tropes

ScienceDaily_2013 01095.txt

#New rearing method may help control western bean cutwormthe western bean cutworm is a destructive insect pest of dry beans and corn. Inadequate protocols for laboratory rearing of this insect have hindered controlled efficacy experimentation in the laboratory and field. However in an article in the Journal of Economic Entomology called Evaluation of Tolerance to Bacillus thuringiensis Toxins Among Laboratory-Reared Western Bean Cutworm (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) the authors report a new rearing methodology used to maintain a laboratory colony for 12 continuous generations. The ability to mass produce this pest insect will enhance fundamental research including evaluation of control tactics and toxin susceptibility. Economic damage to corn occurs by larval feeding on ears which is controlled not by commercial transgenic hybrids that express Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) Cry1ab but partial control has been observed by corn varieties that express Cry1 F toxins. The new rearing procedure described in the article allowed the researchers to gather the first reported data for western bean cutworm susceptibility to Cry toxins using laboratory dose-response bioassays. With the ability to rear western bean cutworm in the laboratory it may be possible in the future to select strains with varying levels of Cry1f toxin susceptibilities which could in turn be used to investigate the genetic basis of resistance. Story Source: The above story is provided based on materials by Entomological Society of America. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length h

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