NEW APPROACHES FOR CONTROLLING BOLLWORMS

Abstract

Among cnt omol ngists 111 t he l ast 30 years a nd i s referred to as I ntegrated Pest Mana gnl l'll t ( I P M).

I I'M is a i K'Sl 11W na g.ei1H.:nt syste m that ut i li i.'cs al l suitable techn iques ci thc r t o rcducc pest population s an d m a intain them at l evels bel ow those caus ing cono1n i <.: injury or to so m a ni pulat e t he popu l at ions t hat they are pl-c,·cn t ed l'rnm ca using s uch injury.

Microbia l insec ti c ides obta ined t heir n am e rrom microbes or mi cmorganisms tha t arc used to <.:o ntro l certain insects. Like mamma l s, insects arc suscept i bl e to diseases ca used by run gi. bacteria and v iruses. In several insta nces. these h a ve been isolated , cultured, and mass-prod uced for use as pest ic ides. 1\ number o r pat hogen i c bacter ia particul arl y Bacillus thuringiensis Berl iner ha u been t ried aga inst vari ous l epid opterous larvae in Europe, U.S.A. a nd m an y ot her co untri es a nd success has been achieved. The cnto1no pa t hogcni c rungus lleauvaria bassiona ca used extensi ve morta l ity and suppn.:sscd l a r va l populat ion o r many i nsect s peci es ( Fc n g eta/., 1988; Gar cia eta/., 1 9911a ; Lewis and IJing, 1991 and Tnan , 1995).

Coll nn bollworms. l·'t!clinophora g ossypiel/ a and £arias insulana are of t he most import ant insects attackin g cotton in Egypt. for long time, these i nsec t s arc contro ll ed with con ven tial insecti cid es. To avoid ex tensive use of chemi <.:<t l insecti cides, t he <.:urrent stud y was focused on sel ecting proper IPM to con trol these pests.

The main objcct i ve.so r our stud y a. re : I . St ud y ing the popul ;llion d yn am i cs of both bollworm s durin g colton season to selcct t he proper ti me lor insects control. 2. St ud y ing t he e ffect o r preva i l in g weather factor (tem perature a nd relative humi dit y) o n popu l ation dynamics ol' boll wonns. - 3. Esti mati on o r insec t population a n d assessm ent of crop-damage. 4 . The rol e o r insec t behavi or and li fe-t ab le in integrated pest managem ent ( I PM ) p rogramme. 5. Determ inat i o n o r t he suscepti bility o r cotton boll worms to insecticides. 6. The s id e ciTects o r insecti cida l trea tments o n si x ma in predators commonly round in cotton-fie l ds. 7. !va lu ation or t wo bioeides (Dipci-2X and bioO y), sex pheromone-baited t raps and releasin g t he egg-parasitoid (in one wave) lor controlling both insec ts. 8. Ulicicncy o r di I Tercnt I PM progra m on cotton y i eld .