Quantifying the Impact of Excluding Insecticide Classes From Cotton Integrated Pest Management Programs in the U.S. Mid-South.

Abstract

Current assessments from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency suggest that some current insecticides may be lost or severely restricted in the near future. An experiment was conducted from 2014 to 2015 at two locations in Mississippi to determine the impact of losses of insecticide classes on integrated pest management of insect pests in cotton. The treatments included cotton treated with all available classes of insecticides, cotton treated with all classes except neonicotinoids, cotton treated with all classes except pyrethroids, cotton treated with all classes except carbamates and organophosphates, and an untreated control. Plots were scouted weekly and insecticide applications were made with the most efficacious and economical insecticides for each treatment when that treatment reached threshold for a particular insect pest(s). The primary insects at both locations were tobacco thrips and tarnished plant bugs. Thrips pressure was similar at both locations and generally showed that all insecticide treatments provided a similar level of protection compared with the untreated control. At the Stoneville location where tarnished plant bug pressure was greatest, cotton yields and economic returns differed between plots where all classes of insecticides were applied compared with the untreated control and where neonicotinoids were excluded. However, in Starkville where tarnished plant bug pressure was less, there were no differences among treatments. Although yield and economic returns were similar in high tarnished plant bug pressure areas when using all classes compared with managing without pyrethroids or organophosphates, a rotation among all insecticide classes should be beneficial for resistance management in Mid-South cotton production.