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Relationships between sulfonylurea herbicide treatment of host plants and the performance of herbivorous insects
Author(s) -
Kjær Christian,
Heimbach Udo
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
pest management science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.296
H-Index - 125
eISSN - 1526-4998
pISSN - 1526-498X
DOI - 10.1002/ps.407
Subject(s) - sulfonylurea , biology , brassica , pieris brassicae , host (biology) , fecundity , herbivore , sitobion avenae , plutella , insect , agronomy , pesticide , shoot , botany , larva , pest analysis , homoptera , ecology , population , microbiology and biotechnology , aphididae , demography , sociology , insulin
Previous work had shown that the sulfonylurea herbicide chlorsulfuron affected the survival of a herbivorous insect species dwelling on a sub‐lethally exposed host plant. Further experiments have been conducted to establish whether this negative effect was a single occurrence characteristic for the specific insect–plant interaction and the specific herbicide tested. Three insect–plant interactions were tested for the effects of selected sulfonylurea herbicides, ie metsulfuron‐methyl, chlorsulfuron and tribenuron‐methyl. The species pairs tested were Pieris brassicae/Brassica napus, Gastrophysa polygoni/Fallopia convolvulus and Sitobium avenae/Triticum aestivium . No significant effects on survival and relative growth rate of P brassicae or G polygoni were found when treating the host plants with sulfonylurea herbicides. However, the host plants had a significantly reduced root and shoot growth rate when treated with herbicide. Treating T aestivium with the recommended field rate of metsulfuron‐methyl did not cause any change in development time, growth rate or fecundity of S avenae feeding on the host plants. The data presented suggest that the increased mortality observed for G polygoni larvae feeding on chlorsulfuron‐treated host plants observed earlier was characteristic for this herbicide and for the specific plant–insect interaction only. © 2001 Society of Chemical Industry