'Banker Plant' New Echo-Friendly Innovation of Cotton Bollworm Biological Control to Slow Insecticides Resistance Under Egyptian Field Condition

Pesticide resistance poses a major challenge to sustainable pest suppression, necessitating strategies to mitigate its development and reduce environmental contamination. The aim of the study evaluated resistance spectra in Pectinophora gossypiella (pink bollworm, PBW) and Earias insulana (spiny bollworm, SBW) field strains to common insecticides (cypermethrin, chlorpyrifos, spinosad, indoxacarb) over the 2022–2023 cotton seasons. We compared resistance levels in insecticide-treated fields versus fields using banker plants combined with Trichogramma parasitoid release, alongside a laboratory strain. Metabolic resistance mechanisms were also investigated. Results indicated that PBW and SBW strains from fields using the new echo-friendly innovation banker plants with Trichogramma release exhibited significantly lower Resistance Factor(RF) in throughout both seasons than strains from insecticide-treated fields. Conversely, insecticide-treated fields showed high RR values. Biochemical assays revealed significant differences in esterase, acetylcholinesterase (AChE), total protein, and total carbohydrate activity between field strains (from both conventional and banker plant systems) and the laboratory strain. Concluded that the integrating banker plants with Trichogramma releases reduces/slow insecticide resistance development in PBW and SBW, suggesting altered metabolic responses contribute to this effect.