Influence of adult boll weevil diet on winter survival and spring-summer emergence
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abstract
In 1992, a three-year study was initiated to investigate the influence of adult boll weevil, Anthonomus grandis Boheman, diet on overwintering survival and spring-summer emergence patterns. Dissections of randomly sampled weevils from test groups showed that weevil cohorts fed large bolls collected from commercial cotton fields had greater percentages of low-fat diapausing individuals than cohorts fed artificial diet, squares or small bolls. These weevils tended to have lower winter survival rates and emerged from overwintering habitat earlier the following season than weevils fed other diets. Diapausing weevils fed large bolls collected from late planted research plots did not show reduced fat, but did exhibit a trend toward reduced winter survival and earlier spring-summer emergence. Within study years, weevils fed on cotton squares, small bolls or artificial diet exhibited similar winter survival rates and spring-summer emergence profiles. Cohorts released into overwintering habitats later in the fall consistently exhibited higher winter survival rates and also exhibited a strong tendency to emerge later the following spring. Results indicate that crop management to limit the production of squares and small bolls during the fall will result in late-season boll weevil populations with reduced potential to survive the winter and infest cotton the next season.