The Southern IPM Center Presents the Southern IPM Hour Webinar Series.

Title: Insect-Pest Management Strategies in Water-Deficit Cotton Production Systems
Speaker: Megha Parajulee, Texas A&M
Date: Wednesday, May 3, 1pm Eastern

Full ARDP Project Title: Developing Insect-Pest Management Strategies in Water-Deficit Cotton Production Systems: Management Recommendations for Production Sustainability

“To optimize crop production with limited water, yield losses due to insect pests must be managed in effective and economical ways under changing production systems.”

Summary:
Texas and Georgia are the two leading cotton producing states in the United States. Both states have cotton pest management issues, declining water availability, and cotton production profitability. Cotton insect pest management cost, including arthropod-induced yield loss, accounting for $353 million annually, significantly contributes to the overall cotton production profitability in both states. However, climatic conditions, cropping system landscape, cotton production practices, and inputs differ widely between THP and Southern Georgia. Our agriculture still operates in a compartmentalized manner such that pest management practices are done separately from crop production, and economics of integrated cropping systems are not well-defined.

A multi-disciplinary research will enable development of research-based action thresholds considering variable yield potential under different water deficit scenarios. Action thresholds provide decision support to make management decisions and are an important component of IPM. Producer decisions are complicated by uncertainty of production risks posed by the interaction of biotic (pests) and abiotic (water) factors. Because thrips and Lygus/stink bug insect pests occur in cotton sequentially, the population dynamics and damage potential of each species was systematically examined. independently or in combination.

The Southern IPM Hour presents research, issues, and programs in Integrated Pest Management from the Southern Region of the United States.

Recordings of the webinars are available after the event.
More info southernipm.org/ipmhour