Farmers must control whitefly, pink bollworm as cotton passes through ‘critical’ August growth phase: Sabahat Hussain

MULTAN, Aug 11 (APP):The ongoing month of August was critically important for cotton as the crop passes through sensitive growth and fruiting stages,making it highly important for farmers to protect the white gold from insect pests’ attacks, particularly pink bollworm and whitefly.

This was stated by Ms. Sabahat Hussain,Director,Central Cotton Research Institute,Multan,in her special message to cotton growers.

She said that the cotton crop was currently developing vigorously and producing substantial fruiting.

The all important stage necessitates growers to conduct pest scouting in their fields twice to thrice a week.

Hot and humid weather contributes to whitefly infestation,the CCRI Multan Director said and advised cotton growers to use yellow sticky traps for the management of whitefly.

Whiteflies become trapped on the highly adhesive surface of the yellow sticky traps and die without the need for insecticide spraying, she explained advising:”These traps should be installed around the perimeter as well as in the central areas of the cotton field at the rate of 10 traps per acre.”

If whitefly remains uncontrolled despite the use of yellow sticky traps,recommended insecticides should be applied after consultation with agricultural experts.

However,she cautioned growers against repeatedly using the same insecticide.

Insecticides should always be rotated to prevent the development of resistance.

Sabahat Hussain stated that if whitefly infestation in the crop exceeds the economic threshold level of five adult or immature whiteflies,or a combination of both,per leaf,growers should apply recommended insecticides.

For effective management of whitefly,cotton growers should spray Spirotetramat 125 ml + Bio Power 250 ml,or Cyantraniliprole + Diafenthiuron mixture 300 ml,or Flonicamid 80 grams,or Pyriproxyfen 400 to 500 ml, or Pyrifluquinazon 200 grams,mixed in 100 liters of water per acre.

Sabahat Hussain further stated that pink bollworm infestation is being observed in fields where boll formation has begun.

For monitoring pink bollworm,cotton growers should install one pheromone trap per five acres,while eight pheromone traps per acre should be installed for management purposes.

Growers should randomly collect 20 soft,14 to 18 days old bolls from different locations within one acre of the field and keep them for 3 to 4 days.

The bolls should then be opened and examined.If pink bollworm was detected in even one of these bolls,the grower should spray the field against pink bollworm.

This means that when 5 pink bollworms are found in 100 bolls, representing 5 percent infestation, insecticide application against the affected bolls becomes essential.

For the control of pink bollworm,cotton growers should spray Spinetoram 100 ml, or Chlorantraniliprole + Lambda-cyhalothrin mixture 160 ml, or Gamma-cyhalothrin 100 ml,mixed in 100 liters of water per acre.

On the advice of agricultural experts, 2 to 3 consecutive sprays should be applied at an interval of 6 to 7 days, she concluded.