Realized heritability of resistance to dicrotophos in greenhouse whitefly

Realized heritability (h ²) of resistance to dicrotophos in greenhouse whitefly,Trialeurodes vaporariorum Westwood, was estimated from a laboratory selection experiment. Five generations of selection increased the LC₅₀ approximately 13-fold. Estimatedh ² of resistance to dicrotophos was 0.40 when calculated with the method of Tabashnik (1992) and 0.35 with the method of Tanaka & Noppun (1989). These results suggest that 35 to 40% of the total phenotypic variation in resistance was caused by additive genetic variation. For thirteen previously reported estimates ofh ² of insecticide resistance in other insect pests, the mean was 0.29. The relatively highh ² of dicrotophos resistance forT. vaporariorum is consistent with rapid resistance development in field populations.