Principles and practices of integrated pest management on cotton in the Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas

Authors: Greenberg, Shoil; Adamczyk, John; Armstrong, John

Submitted to: Book Chapter
Publication Type: Book / Chapter
Publication Acceptance Date: 8/6/2011
Publication Date: 2/2/2012
Citation: Greenberg, S.M., Adamczyk Jr, J.J., Armstrong, J.S. 2012. Principles and practices of integrated pest management on cotton in the Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas. In: Larramendy, M.L., Soloneski, S., editors. Integrated Pest Management and Pest Control - Current and Future Tactics. InTech. p. 3-34.

Interpretive Summary: IPM is a sustainable approach to managing pests by combining biological, cultural, physical, and chemical tools in a way that minimizes economic, health, and environmental risks. IPM is a pest management strategy that focuses on long-term prevention or suppression of pest problems through a combination of techniques such as: monitoring for pest presence and establishing treatment threshold levels; using non-chemical practices to make the habitat less conducive to pest development; improving sanitation; and employing mechanical and physical controls. Pesticides that pose the least possible hazard and are effective in a manner that minimizes risk to people, property, and the environment, are used only after careful monitoring indicates they are needed, according to established guidelines and treatment thresholds. In the future, IPM is expected to continue to be dominant in agriculture. This will include increased use of reduced-risk pesticides and genetically-engineered crops. Recent surveys of both conventional and organic growers indicate an interest in using biocontrol products. The future success of the biological control industry will depend on innovative business management, product marketing, extension education, and research. These will contribute substantially to making the 21st century the age of biotechnology by the development of innovative biocontrol strategies. For those who insist on practicing real IPM, it will be necessary to develop a workable definition that incorporates the key components of IPM; from this definition, design a set of performance standards to permit a quantitative assessment IPM implementation in the field.

Technical Abstract: Sustainable agriculture is ecologically sound, economically viable, socially just, and humane. These four goals for sustainability can be applied to all aspects of any agricultural system, from production and marketing, to processing and consumption. IPM may be considered a key component of a sustainable agricultural system. This publication is a combination of review and our original data for setting up an IPM program and designing a monitoring plan based on key plant (cotton) and key pests. We describe annual losses from arthropod pests in general and by key insect pests; briefly showed sampling of insect populations and cotton growth stages, with importance of the proper timing of scouting procedures and treatments; and economic threshold harmfulness (ETH) for optimizing control and minimizing risk from insects. We describe effectiveness of cotton insecticides; native, most widely-distributed and augmentative releases of beneficial insects; and cultural control techniques for cotton insects. We also show cotton diseases and weed controls. IPM is a process that considers all control options in the proportion shown in the model of a pyramid, and it can be used to demonstrate how growers might productively construct their pest management programs.