ARS | Publication request: PINK BOLLWORM PHEROMONE DISPENSER HARVEST LOSSES

Submitted to: National Cotton Council Beltwide Cotton Conference
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: January 8, 2003
Publication Date: August 1, 2003
Citation: Funk, P.A., Armijo, C.B., Lewis, B.E. 2003. Pink bollworm pheromone dispenser harvest losses. National Cotton Council. CD-ROM p 2516-2517.

Interpretive Summary: As a part of an area-wide pink bollworm pest management strategy, interruption of reproduction through releasing overwhelming quantities of pink bollworm sex pheromone was attempted in Dona Ana county, NM, in 2002. The dispensers available at that time were found to pass through harvest machinery into the cotton gin. This simple study measured the percentage of dispensers (not more than one percent) that might arrive at a commercial gin. To reduce concerns that dispensers will interfere with gin machinery and/or contaminate byproducts fed to sheep, modified dispensers were recommended for future years.

Technical Abstract: Initially 300 hundred pink bollworm pheromone dispenser 'ropes' (resembling twist ties) were attached to cotton plants. A harvester went through the plants at normal speed. Afterwards, 290 ties remained on the cotton plants. Seven ties were found on the ground, two were found in the harvested cotton, and one could not be accounted for. Though the percentage of pheromone dispensers harvested is small, the potential for problems at the gin is a function of the number of dispensers per acre and the acres treated.