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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Stoneville, Mississippi » Southern Insect Management Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #77886
Title: INFLUENCE OF EARLY SEASON TREATMENTS ON INSECT POPULATIONS AND YIELD IN BOLLGARD (96 BG-1) AND SURE GROW 501 COTTON VARIETIES

Author
item Scott, William
item Snodgrass, Gordon
item Adams, Donald

Submitted to: National Cotton Council Beltwide Cotton Conference
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 1/6/1997
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: The cotton bollworm and tobacco budworm are serious pest species on cotton. These pests buildup in populations over five generations during each field season in the Mississippi Delta. An area-wide pest management program with an insect virus has been proposed for reducing the numbers of these pests during the first generation. A reduction in the population during the first generation would lower the population during the remainder of the field season to a point where significant damage to crops would not occur. An area-wide program with the virus during 1996 was shown to reduce moth emergence by 40%.

Technical Abstract: Results were reported from the 1996 area-wide management program with baculovirus in the Mississippi Delta. A circular study area encompassing approximately 9,972 ha was treated in late April and early May with virus to coincide with the larval emergence of bollworms and tobacco budworms, respectively. Enclosure cages and pheromone traps were monitored to assess the impact of the virus in an area-wide management program. The enclosure cage data were inconclusive due to low emergence in the area. Pheromone trap data suggested that total moth emergence was reduced 40% when compared with moth emergence in untreated areas. A projected cost analysis for a large area-wide program (ca. 324,000 ha) during 1998 in the Mississippi Delta is also addressed.