Control efficacy of several insecticides against Thrips hawaiiensis and their residue in banana fruits

Thrips hawaiiensis (Morgan) is one of the main pests on bananas and mainly harms the flower buds. Traditional application methods of pesticides were ineffective for this kind of thrips, and in recent years, the insects have developed resistance to imidacloprid and other commonly used insecticides, resulting in pesticide residue problems on banana fruits. In this study, the control efficacy of broflanilide, afidopyropen, sulfoxaflor, flonicamid and imidaclothiz against T. hawaiiensis were determined by bud injection of the pesticide formulations in the early stage of bud development of banana, and the residue behavior was analyzed for broflanilide and imidaclothiz, which both showed high control efficacy. Results showed that broflanilide and imidaclothiz had control efficiencies of 84.7% and 82.1% after bud injection at the early stage of budding with 5% broflanilide suspension concentrate at 1000-fold dilution and 40% imidaclothiz water dispersible granules at 5000-fold dilution, respectively. The half-lives of broflanilide and imidaclothiz on bananas were 8.1 d and 8.0 d, respectivery and the final residues were below the LOQ (0.005 mg/kg) in whole fruit of bananas. Therefore, broflanilide and imidaclothiz were recommended to be used on banana by bud injection method to control T. hawaiiensis.