MANAGEMENT OF PINK BOLLWORM WITH MATING DISRUPTION TECHNIQUE IN SMALLAR PLOTS OF COTTON

Abstract

Pink bollworm, Pectinophora gossypiella is the most damaging pest of cotton irrespective of Bt and non Bt. The damage of the Pink bollworm has increased in Pakistan since 2015 to till now. The main purpose to conduct this study was the evaluation of mating Disruptor’s efficiency against Pink bollworm in smaller plots of cotton. This experiment was conducted at farmer’s field at Bomb more Jalalpur pirwala district Multan on cotton season 2018. The PB-ropes were installed in 1st treatment at the rate of 150 ropes/ acre while the PB-ropes were applied in the 2nd treatment at the rate of 200 ropes/acre and the third treatment was kept as control. The gossyplure baited traps were installed in the cotton at flowering stage in 1st week of August The gossyplure baited traps were installed in the cotton field to monitor the activity of Pink bollworm moth catches in both treatments and control block. It was also observed that the mating disruption efficacy of PB-Ropes remained up to three months. The significant decrease of % damage in green bolls was observed in the plot treated with PB-Ropes @ 200 ropes/ acre (4.73±0.57b) following 150 ropes treated plot (4.73±0.57 b) as compared to control block (31.04±2.42a). The number of moth catches was reduced in the plot treated with PB-Ropes @ 200 ropes /acre(3.40±0.34b) following 150 ropes treated plot (4.64 ± 0.37b) as compared to control block(40.47 ± 1.67a) .The results were further confirmed by % infestation in leftover bolls of the plot treated with PB-Ropes @ 200 ropes / acre (14.00 ± 0.57 b) following plot treated with PBRopes @ 150 ropes / acre (20.33 ± 0.88 b) as compared to control plot (63.00 ± 2.08 a).