Resistance for pyrethroids

Pyrethroid insecticides could lose their ability to control the peach potato aphid Myzus persicae faster than previously thought. A newly identified form of resistance in the pest specifically overcomes pyrethroid insecticides, showing 20-30 times more resistance than other mechanisms.
    The discovery was made by Alan Devonshire of the Rothamsted Research Institute. 'Knockdown resistance' seems to have been present for some time, although has only just been recognised. It seems to work in association with an esterase enzyme based resistance, which was recognised by researchers in the early 1990s. The pyrethroids involved are deltamethrin and lambda-cyhalothrin for use as aphicides on potatoes.

Farmers Weekly 13 February 1998

[This article first appeared in Pesticides News No. 39, March 1998, page 23 ]