ARS | Publication request: GOSSYPIUM THURBERI AS A PINK BOLLWORM (PBW), PECTINOPHORA GOSSYPIELLA (SAUNDERS), REPRODUCTIVE HOST

Submitted to: National Cotton Council Beltwide Cotton Conference
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: January 7, 2005
Publication Date: June 1, 2005
Citation: Henneberry, T.J., Jech, L.J. 2005. Gossypium thurberi as a pink bollworm (pbw), pectinophora gossypiella (saunders), reproductive host. National Cotton Council Beltwide Cotton Conference 1091-1093.

Interpretive Summary: Eradication of the pink bollworm (PBW) from southwestern United States and Northern Mexico cotton growing areas has been a goal of research, action, and regulatory agencies since PBW first occurred in Arizona in 1927. With the availability of newly developed PBW population suppression technology, a USDA-Animal Plant Health Inspection Agency (APHIS) administrated program is being conducted with eradication goals. The occurrence of other cultivated and wild PBW hosts will be factors affecting program success. A wild cotton species is found in parts of Arizona and Mexico. We conducted laboratory and field studies to investigate it as a potential PBW reproductive host. In the laboratory, under no-choice conditions, numbers of eggs laid and percent hatched on a commercially grown Delta and Pine Land (DPL) 5415 cotton cultivar were not significantly different compared with G. thurberi. However, more dead early instar PBW larvae were found in G. thurberi bolls compared with ‘DPL 5415’. PBW larval infestations in the bolls in the field averaged 2.9 larvae per boll compared with no larvae found in G. thurberi bolls.

Technical Abstract: Eradication of the pink bollworm, Pectinophora gossypiella (PBW) (Saunders), from southwestern United States and Northern Mexico cotton, Gossypium hirsutum L., growing areas has been a goal of research, action, and regulatory agencies since PBW first occurred in Arizona in 1927. With the availability of newly developed PBW population suppression technology, a USDA-Animal Plant Health Inspection Agency (APHIS) administrated program is being conducted with eradication goals. The occurrence of other cultivated and wild PBW hosts will be factors affecting program success. A wild cotton species, G. thurberi Todaro, is found in parts of Arizona and Mexico. We conducted laboratory and field studies to investigate it as a potential PBW reproductive host. In the laboratory, under no-choice conditions, numbers of eggs laid and percent hatched on a commercially grown G. hirsutum, Delta and Pine Land (DPL) 5415 cotton cultivar were not significantly different compared with G. thurberi. However, more dead early instar PBW larvae were found in G. thurberi bolls compared with ‘DPL 5415’. PBW larval infestations in the bolls in the field averaged 2.9 larvae per boll compared with no larvae found in G. thurberi bolls.