Pyrethroid sensitivity monitoring in Germany of oilseed rape pest insects other than pollen beetle

Pyrethroid resistant pollen beetles ( Meligethes aeneus ) are widely distributed in Germany and other European countries. Other insect pests on oilseed rape are also exposed to pyrethroids which often have more than one application per season. In spite of this scarce information about the sensitivity of other oilseed rape pest insects is available. To address this monitoring of pyrethroid sensitivity of different oilseed rape pest insects has been carried out since 2005. Laboratory experiments were conducted using an adult-vial-test design with samples collected in different areas of Germany.
Most samples of Ceutorhynchus napi , C. assimilis , C. pallidactylus , Dasineura brassicae , Phyllotreta spp. and Psylliodes chrysocephala tested from 2005–2007 showed 100% mortality at 0.003 and 0.015 µg/cm² lambda-cyhalothrin used as reference test pyrethroid. Some samples especially of C. pallidactylus , C. napi and C. assimilis showed a lower mortality with alive and healthy beetles at 0.015 µg/cm² lambda-cyhalothrin. For all samples tested from 2005–2007 100% mortality was found only at higher rates of 0.0375 or 0.075 µg/cm² lambda-cyhalothrin.
To date, no clear pyrethroid resistance has been detected in other oil seed rape pest insect populations in Germany.