What Does Pest Resistant Mean?
Pest resistance is a condition where pests (insects, small animals, mites, weeds, etc.) are able to resist, and therefore do not get affected, by pesticides. These creatures are said to be pest resistant.
The Insecticide Resistance Action Committee (IRAC) defines pest resistance as “a heritable change in the sensitivity of a pest population that is reflected in the repeated failure of a product to achieve the expected level of control when used according to the label recommendation for that pest species.”
Maximum Yield Explains Pest Resistant
Cultivators lost 7% of their crops in the 1940s, and over the 1990s, they lost more than 13% of their total agricultural output. Even though the effects and the quantity of the pesticides increased, pest resistance got in the way of yields. Like everything else in the universe, pests go through an evolution process as well.
Based on Darwin’s theory of natural selection, pests that survive the effects of pesticides pass on the resistance as a genetic feature on to their offspring and their offspring do the same, making all future species pest-resistant. Given that the life span of many pests, such as mites and small insects, is less than a month, pests can go through generations within months. So, their process of pest-resistance can be visible quickly.
As the pests evolve, pest resistance increases and with it the need for changes in the chemicals in pesticides also increases. As of now, more than 500 species of pests have been scientifically proven to be pest resistant and other sources claim the number has exceeded a thousand. The solution to combat this is a change in the composition of pesticides for plants these pests infect.
