Nilaparvata lugens Stål is one of the important migratory pests of rice paddy fields in Korea. Resistance levels to nine insecticides were monitored in 12 local strains and correlation analysis was conducted to determine cross-resistance relationships among the tested insecticides. The local strains revealed 1.3- to 28.0-, 1.6- to 6.0-, 2.8- to 237.0-, 0.6- to 0.9-, and 0.7- to 1.3-fold resistance to carbamates, organophosphates, neonicotinoids, fipronil and etofenprox, respectively. Organophosphates revealed moderate correlations with benzofuranyl methylcarbamate (r = 0.566 - 0.614, p > 0.01). Three neonicotinoids were not correlated each other, but imidacloprid and clothianidin were moderately correlated with several benzofuranyl methylcarbamate and organophosphate insecticides (r = 0.590 - 0.705, p > 0.05), indicating that unknown common factors (such as detoxification enzymes) might contribute to resistance to both insecticides. Fipronil and etofenprox exhibited low levels of resistance and cross-resistance with other insecticides, suggesting their potential as an effective insecticide for field application. Resistance level monitoring and correlation analysis would be valuable for the selection of appropriate insecticides to control insecticide-resistant N. lugenes, a typical migratory pest in Korea.

Resistance evolution to organophosphate-based pesticides in apple and pear inhabiting arthropods of western North America extends to many classes of pest and some beneficial species. Resistance management programs to minimize resistance in pests while exploiting it in natural enemies have met with mixed success. Among beneficials, resistances have been exploited mostly among predators of pest mites. Evolution of resistant mites, leafminers, leafhopper, aphids, leafrollers and some internal fruit feeders have led to development of new monitoring methods and means to delay or avoid resistance. But it is resistance to azinphosmethyl in codling moth (Cydia pomonella) that is changing the pest control system and moving it from chemical to biologically-based means. Newly merging IPM system will depend more on use of biological, cultural, behavior and genetic controls. But more selective pesticides also will be needed to augment pheromones, resistant host plants and genetically altered organisms. These more biologically-based tactics will be prone to resistance evolution in pests as well, if used too unilaterally and/or too extensively.

The rapid increase in cases of insect resistance to insecticides indicates that the contribution of present chemical control practices inevitably leads to exhaustion of available insecticide resources against key insect species. Now the problem of insecticide resistance exists worldwide among insects and mites affecting field crops and animals including human beings, ranging from minimal or absent in some developing countries, where use of insecticides has been low, to extremely severe in many developed countries. Since the occurrence of insect resistance to insecticides was firstly recognized in 1908, the increase in recent decades has been almost linear and now the number of species of insects and acarines in which resistant strains have evolved have been increased to a total of 432. Of these, are agricultural importance and of medical/veterinary importance. The phenomenon of insecticide resistance is asserting itself as the greatest challenge to effective chemical control of many important insect pests. Resistance of insects to insecticides has a history of nearly 80 years, but its greatest increase and its strongest impact have occurred during the last 40 years following the discovery and extensive use of synthetic organic insecticides and acaricides. The impact of resistance should be considered not only in terms of greater cost of pest control due to increased dosages and number of applications but also in terms of the ecological disruption of pest-beneficial species density relationships, the loss of investment in the development of the insecticides concerned, and socio-economic disruption in agricultural communities. Despite its grave economic consequences, the phenomenon of insecticide resistance has received surprisingly little attention in Korea. Since the study of insecticides started firstly in 1963, many entomologists have been concerned with this study. According to their results, some of the rice pests and some of the mites on orchard trees, for example, have developed worrisome level of resistance in several areas of this peninsula. With many arthropods, considerable advances in the developed countries have been made in the study of the biochemical and physiological mechanisms of resistance. Progress involves the biochemical characteristics of specific defense mechanisms, their genetics, interactions, and their quantitative and qualitative contribution to resistance. But their studies arc still inadequately known and relatively little have been contributed in terms of unique schemes of population management in achieving satisfactory pest control. It is apparent that there is no easy solution to resistance as a general phenomenon. For future challenging to effective control of insect pests which are resistant to the insecticides concerned, new insecticide groups with distinctly novel mode of action are urgently needed. It is clear, however, that a great understanding of the factors which govern the intensity of selection of field population for resistance could lead to far more permanently successive use of chemicals within the framework of integrated pest management than heretofore practiced.