Some effects of resistance to organophosphorus insecticides in Myzus persicae (Sulz.) on the transmission of beet yellowing viruses

Abstract

A population of Myzus persicae (Sulz.) that apparently showed resistance to organophosphorus insecticides was found on plants growing in glasshouses at the Plant Breeding Institute, Cambridge, in 1963. Experiments were conducted to compare the resistance to dimethoate and demeton-methyl of this population with that of another population, which had never been treated with insecticides. The resistant aphids were killed much more slowly than were susceptible aphids on plants sprayed with organophosphates, and they were able to transmit beet yellows virus (BYV) and beet mild yellowing virus (BMYV) to the treated plants. Under similar conditions, susceptible aphids were able to transmit BYV, a semi-persistent virus, but less efficiently than the resistant aphids, and were not able to transmit BMYV, a persistent virus, at all.It is not known how common these organophosphorus-resistant populations of M. persicae are, at present, in the field in Britain. Under normal field conditions, control of such resistant aphids would be difficult, and virus yellows might, in consequence, become widespread even in crops that had been treated with organophosphorus chemicals.