SELECTION OF Plutella xylostella (L.) (LEPIDOPTERA: PLUTELLIDAE) TO CHLORFENAPYR RESISTANCE: HERITABILITY AND THE NUMBER OF GENES INVOLVED

Abstract

The Plutella xylostella (L.) (Lepidoptera: Plutellidae) is a worldwide pest of Brassicaceae. Resistance has evolved against various insecticides including chlorfenapyr one of the most recently registered molecules to control this pest. The failure of chlorfenapyr to control this pest could be related to resistance in P. xylostella in the state of Pernambuco (Brazil), but there is currently no information on its heritability. Here, we estimated the heritability of resistance of P. xylostella to chlorfenapyr and the number of genes involved in the resistance in a field-derived population (PxClf-SEL). A field population was selected in the laboratory with increasing doses of chlorfenapyr (for five generations), and the LC50s were estimated for every generation using the leaf dip bioassay. The selection increased resistance to chlorfenapyr in the PxClf-SEL as the LC50 shifted from 27.6 (F1) to 256.5 (F5) mg chlorfenapyr/L. As a result, the resistance ratio (RR) increased from 33-fold (F1) to 310-fold (F5). The heritability of resistance of P. xylostella to chlorfenapyr was 0.90 (h2), and the number of generations needed for a 10-fold increase in the resistance to chlorfenapyr was 5.20 (G). Other methods have shown different numbers of genes (0.64 and 1.88) involved in resistance of P. xylostella to chlorfenapyr. There was sufficient variation regarding resistance in the field population to account for a high realized heritability influenced mainly by additive genetic factors. Therefore, there is a high risk of chlorfenapyr resistance in the field.