Sweetpotato whitefly resistance to insecticides in Hawaii: intra‐island variation is related to insecticide use

Abstract Susceptibility to acephate, methomyl, and permethrin was determined with laboratory bioassays of field‐collected adults from 15 populations of the B biotype of sweetpotato whitefly, Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius) (Homoptera:Aleyrodidae), from Hawaii. Comparisons at the LC50 showed up to 24‐fold resistance to acephate, 18‐fold resistance to methomyl, and 4‐fold resistance to permethrin. Analysis of variance showed significant intra‐island variation in susceptibility to each insecticide, but no significant variation among islands. Insecticide use varied from 4 to 103 insecticide sprays per site per season. Acephate and methomyl were used more often than permethrin. The frequency of application and LC50 for each insecticide were positively correlated across sites. These results suggest that local variation in insecticide use was a primary cause of variation in susceptibility. If local insecticide use is a key determinant of resistance, as our results suggest, growers can retard resistance development locally by reducing their own insecticide use.