Attack of whitefly in cotton has been reported from cotton growing area of Malwa region of Punjab and Sirsa and adjoining areas of Haryana during Kharif 2015. Cotton is grown in about 4.5 lakh ha area of Punjab and 6.0 lakh ha area of Haryana.
Advisories on plant protection have been issued to Director Agriculture, Punjab on 13.08.2015 and 24.08.2015 and to Director Agriculture, Haryana on 25.08.2015.
A team comprising of Dr. K. S. Kapoor, DD (Ento), Hqrs. and Mr. Devendra Kumar, AD (Ento) and Dr. B. D. Sharma, APPO, CIPMC, Jallandhar from the Dte. of PPQ&S, & Extension Officers from Department of Agriculture, Govt. of Punjab visited cotton growing areas during 26.08.2015 to 28.08.2015 in Dujana - Behlwa – Hansi – Hissar – Fathebad – Sirsa – Fazilka - Ferozpur – Mukatsar – Bhatinda – Mansa – Patiala – Jind - Rohtak for surveillance and assessment of the situation with respect to white fly attack in cotton.
In majority of the fields the cotton crop was in its flowering - square formation to boll development phase during the survey period. The team observed 03 - 30 adults or nymphs of Cotton white fly (WF) per leaf which exceeded the Economic Threshold level (ETL) of 5-10 adults/nymphs per leaf. Honeydew secreted by white fly resulted into sooty mould formation which blocked the photosynthesis and eventually 0.5 to 30 percent plants dried up due to this secondary infection. The team also noticed thickening of leaf veins and curling of leaves due to Cotton Leaf Curl Virus (CLCV) infection ranged between 0 to 2 percent in most of the cotton fields. It was also recorded that despite of repeated pesticides sprays on the crop the beneficial bio-agents, such as spiders, dragon flies, damsel flies and the chrysopids were in abundance and active in all the surveyed fields.
It was observed that 5-7 pesticides were sprayed by the farmers in Punjab whereas the Haryana growers had sprayed only 2-5 sprays. Trizophos 40%EC; Thiamethoxam 25%WG; Ethion 50%EC; Imidachloprid 17.8%SL; Monocrotophos 36%SL: Carbaryl 85% WP; Spiromesifen 22.9%SC, Carbendazim 50% WP and Copper Oxychloride 50% WP were main pesticides sprayed. It was noted that the pesticide dealers are their advisers for pesticide recommendations rather than the agricultural experts which led to over or under dosing of the spray concentrations. Some well known Integrated Pest Management (IPM) strategies viz. Yellow traps, application of bio-pesticides or neem based formulations were also neglected. Clean cultivation was not practiced in most of the fields and higher population of WF was noticed where fields of cotton existed near to the Citrus orchards and the vegetable crops of Cucurbits & Ladies Finger (Bhindi).
Severity of White fly adults on cotton
Cotton Leaf
Curl Virus (CLCV) on Cotton
Relevant information regarding WF in Cotton !!
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