Examining issues associated with the efficacy of two neonicotinoid insecticides (CruiserMaxx and Admire Pro) against thrips on peanut in comparison with Thimet.

Imidacloprid and other neonicotinoids such as thiamethoxam have been considered as viable alternatives to widely used broad-spectrum insecticide, Phorate. We have extensively worked in the past to integrate their usage into peanut production, and have published exclusively on their usage in peanut production (Marasigan et al. 2016 and 2018). Their efficacy seems to be sufficient to suppress early season thrips injury and suppress virus transmission in comparison with phorate. However, research reports in 2015 and 2016 have highlighted the widespread resistance in thrips against neonicotinoids in cotton. We evaluated these compounds for thrips susceptibility routinely from 2016 to 2018. Results thus far indicated that thrips resistance to neonicotinoids does not seem to be prevalent in peanut in GA. We have also been working towards developing resistance quantitation assays for detoxifying enzymes using transcriptome mining. This approach will aid to identify resistance quickly. This research is ongoing; faced with poor resolution, the goal is now geared towards developing a thrips genome to increase our resolution in development of these assays.