TECHNOLOGY MISSION ON COTTON MINI MISSION -I

MM3.2: Development and validation of IPM/IRM strategies for Bt and conventional cotton under different eco-systems.

Cotton pest management has always been an immensely challenging task for entomologists all over the world. About 1326 species of insects have been reported on cotton worldwide (Matthews and Tunstall, 1994). World over, cotton crop suffers severe economic damage from several insect pests, most importantly the bollworms and sucking pests. Conventional insect pest control strategies rely heavily on insecticides. It is estimated that cotton cultivation consumes at least 10% of all insecticides used globally. Pesticides worth US $ 600 M are used annually in India for pest management, of which, nearly 50% of the total insecticides used are applied on cotton crop alone, which occupies only 5% of the total cropping area in the country. Over the past two decades, the perplexities in pest management intensified with more and more insect species developing resistance to insecticides. Cotton pest management was particularly affected due to insecticide resistance, which was a consequence of excessive use of insecticides on the crop. Cotton being a commercial crop was always subjected to intense human interventions so as to ensure maximum profitability. Insecticide resistance rendered insecticides ineffective, thus increasing the need for repeated applications, wastage of resources and consequent environmental pollution. Several efforts have been made all over the world to minimize crop losses due to major pests of cotton with focus on sustainable control of the bollworms. Insecticide use ranks the most significant amongst such interventions. All insecticides used for cotton pest management disrupt naturally occurring beneficial insect populations to variable extents. History shows that excessive and indiscriminate insecticide use representing ?exploitation phase' was invariably followed by ?crisis' and ?disaster' phases in cotton, thereby leading to problems of insecticide resistance, pest resurgence, accumulation of harmful residues and toxicity to non-target organisms. Subsequently non-insecticidal alternative methods of eco-friendly pest management are developed. Thus cotton IPM programmes were built around cultural control, biological control and bio-pesticide interventions in many parts of the world. Several efforts were made all over the world to devise region specific integrated pest management (IPM) systems. However, Poor efficacy of insecticides due to insecticide resistance in insects, and performance inconsistencies of bio-pesticides and biological control have been making IPM unsustainable. While new research projects have been formulated under the current TMC-MM-1 Programme to understand the emerging pests, identify eco-friendly pest management strategies, formulate sustainable IPM/IRM programmes and commercialize promising bio-pesticides, The 3.2 project aim at consolidating all results into location specific effective IPM strategies that can be implemented in farmer fields.

OBJECTIVES

To develop Economic Threshold Levels (ETLs) based on Bt-cotton and novel chemistries.
To monitor for insecticide resistance in sucking pest & bollworm resistance to new chemistries.
To develop software to assess eco-toxicity coefficients for insecticides
To identify the most suitable registered bio-pesticides.
To develop effective pink bollworm management strategies, especially for Bt-cotton
To integrate all eco-friendly strategies to develop IPM packages
To facilitate multi location validation of the packages

Name of the Lead Center: UAS, Raichur

Co-operating Centers: CICR, Nagpur; CICR, Sirsa; PAU, Faridkot; RAU, Sriganganagar; PDKV, Akola; MAU, Parbhani; NAU, Surat; ANGRAU, Lam; TNAU, Coimbatore; UAS, Dharwad, ANGRAU, Nandyal, JAU, Junagarh, ANGRAU, Hyderabad, NCIPM, New Delhi