A new test could let cotton farmers reduce their spraying of pyrethroids. Or it could also help keep these insecticides useful when needed, if no other alternatives are available.
Tobacco budworms, Heliothis virescens, and their cotton bollworm cousins, Helicoverpa zea, cost southeastern cotton farmers several hundred million dollars a year in damage and chemical controls. Farmers normally control the pests with pyrethroids, which are inexpensive and relatively nontoxic to ...