BIOTECHNOLOGY AND NEW INTEGRATED PEST-MANAGEMENT APPROACHES

Area-wide pest management technologies will take on new appearances as the drive to eliminate and/or greatly reduce the use of chemical pest icides increases. The use of genetically altered insects has the most potential for successfully displacing certain pesticides, although the development of genetic engineering technologies for agricultural pest species is still in its infancy. Transformation vectors need to be de veloped as do transformation methodologies. Here we report the possibi lity of developing an interspecies vector and discuss ways in which su ch a vector could be used successfully in an integrated pest managemen t system. If such an approach were developed, it could be utilized wit h other alternative methods, thereby providing a safe, ecologically so und means of controlling insect pests without damaging the agricultura l economy.