Pesticide Toxicology Laboratory

Parasitoid (Cotesia plutellae) performance in Bt resistant and susceptible hosts, diamondback moth (Plutella xylostella) feeding on transgenic oilseed rape was examined. Parasitoids forced to develop on susceptibles died, but those on resistant developed normally. In parasitoid choice tests, the susceptible larvae fed less on Bt, which led to less damage, and the parasitoids chose those leaves less.