DEFENDING AGAINST TWO COTTON PEST, NATURALLY

Growers of cotton were baffled by the boll weevils. These were actually considered to be a pain in majority of the cotton fields in the United States. Good thing there was this huge-area extermination program which appeared to be the solution to this kind of problem. However, the stink bugs, which could be studied thoroughly with a boom microscope, seemed to have filled the place which the boll weevils had abandoned in some Southeastern portions. According to the original article, infestations of these stink bugs had cost the farmers from Georgia an estimated three percent of the cotton in the year 2003.

Patricia Glynn Tillman was an entomologist in ARS’s Crop Protection and Management Research Unit located in Tifton, Georgia. Ted Cottrell, on the other hand, was connected with ARS’s Fruit and Nut Research Laboratory which was situated in Byron, Georgia. These two people explored on the employment of these trap crops together with the pheromone traps in order to restrain two bothersome Pentatomidae family members. These were known to be the “brown stink bugs.” These brown bugs were also known as Euschistus servus. The other annoying member were the “southern green stink bugs.” Such were also known as Nezara viridula. According to the original text, these trap crops were tiny plots which were planted especially for the attraction of numerous pests, investigated with a boom microscope, away from the said cash crops and sometimes, to focus the pests inside a tiny location for more effective disposition.

In the five years that this study was conducted, the above researchers made on-farm examinations in order to identify the value of bringing together one sorghum trap crop together with the pheromone-baited seizure traps in order to restrain stink bugs away from the cotton. It was stated that peanut-cotton as well as corn-cotton configurations of farming were widespread among the southeastern parts. It was observed that stink bugs, explored with a boom microscope, would choose corn as well as peanuts. However, during times when the supply of food would run low, these bugs would transfer towards bordering fields of cotton. Yet, it was also discovered that the said pests were voracious for the sorghum. In this connection, the researchers farmed sorghum in one band near the complete stretch of one interface of peanut-cotton. Seizure traps that were pheromone-baited were positioned approximately forty five to fifty feet away from each other in different rows. It was found out that the population of E. servus was importantly lesser in the cotton fields which had two strategies of management compared to cotton fields which did not have any strategy at all. Moreover, in research studies of the populations of N. viridula particularly in farmscape of corn-cotton, the said researchers farmed one trap crop of the sorghum just mentioned, specifically intertwining two crops. N. viridula density was also seen to be much lesser in the cotton fields having sorghum trap crop as weighed against those having none. This sorghum enlisted as a shelter ground for the typical insect enemies of the stink bugs. Original article