Effectiveness of bollgard II cotton varieties against foliage and fruit feeding caterpillars in Arkansas Conference Paper uri icon

abstract

  • Bollgard cotton varieties became commercially available in 1996. They have provided cotton growers an alternative to foliar insecticides for controlling some of the caterpillar pests of cotton. And, they have removed some of the natural selection for resistance to foliar insecticides. Since their release in 1996, cotton losses from caterpillar pests have not declined in the U.S. or in Arkansas, however (Williams, 1994-9). Nationally, losses to caterpillars 1996-8 were about the same as in the previous three years, 4.5% and 4.4%, respectively. In Arkansas, losses were higher from 1996-8 than from 1993-5, 5.4% and 2.5%, respectively. Certainly, there is room for improvement of the caterpillar management technology. Bollgard II technology incorporates two Bacillus thuringiensis toxins into the cotton plant. It is hoped that the two toxin technology will provide broader spectrum caterpillar control and will slow the development of resistance in caterpillar pests to Bt toxins. This study was conducted to gain a better understanding of the effectiveness of the Bollgard II technology against caterpillar pests and to investigate the agronomic characteristics and yield potential of these varieties.

published proceedings

  • 2000 Proceedings Cotton Conferences Volume 2

author list (cited authors)

  • Allen, C. T., Kharboutli, M. S., Capps, C., & Earnest, L. D

complete list of authors

  • Allen, CT||Kharboutli, MS||Capps, C||Earnest, LD

publication date

  • January 2000