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Project title

Exploring pesticide resistance mechanisms in agriculturally important insect pests & novel nonchemical methods for their control.

Primary Funding Agency

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

Co-Funding Organisation(s)

n/a

Lead Organisation

Taighde Eireann Research Ireland (MU)

Lead Applicant

Emma Harris

Project Abstract

Modern food production systems are heavily reliant on chemical pesticides. Although fungicides, insecticides and herbicides are deemed necessary to maintain crop yields, significant environmental and health concerns exist, regarding their widespread use. Chief among these are environmental pollution, food contamination and non-target effects on key ecosystems services providers. It is estimated that less than 01% of an insecticide reaches its intended target and in many cases populations of pollinating insects such as bees and hoverflies are being impacted instead. Therefore, new and sustainable methods for controlling insect pests are required and this project aims to provide the insights required to achieve them. In Ireland, as with much of the world, the majority of insecticide applications target the significant agricultural pest, the aphid. Aphids infest plants, causing extensive direct damage by feeding and transmitting many economically relevant plant viruses to crops worldwide. However, the only effective means of controlling aphid infestation is through the use of chemical insecticides that are applied at specific times of the growing season and in response to increasing aphid numbers. This project aims to provide the knowledge to enable alternative control strategies for aphids by i). characterising resistance mechanisms in aphids to widely used insecticides and ii) to characterise the molecular determinants of plant-aphid interaction. By understanding pesticide resistance mechanisms and determining their presence in field populations of aphids, informed pest management decisions and possibly novel control methods will be identified. By characterising the plant-aphid interaction and determining the basis of aphid feeding, new approaches to controlling aphids will be identified which can inform plant breeding or engineering targeted approaches. These objectives have the potential to offer control strategies not reliant on agrochemicals. In an era of biodiversity loss, environmental pollution, increased food demands and global crises, such research is extremely relevant and necessary.

Grant Approved

€136,000.00

Research Hub

Delivering a Healthy Environment

Research Theme

n/a

Start Date

01/03/2026

Initial Projected Completion Date

28/02/2030