BEHAVIOURAL MANAGEMENT OF SUCKING PESTS OF COTTON, GOSSYPIUM SPP. USING YELLOW STICKY TRAPS

摘要

A field study conducted to assess the usefulness of yellow cylindrical sticky traps in checking the sucking pests of cotton like, aphids, Aphis gossypii Glov., thrips, Thrips tabaci(Genn.) and whitefly, Bemisia tabaci (Genn.) revealed that traps placed early in the standing crop effectively checked the population by rapid attraction and prevented from population spurts. However, at higher population levels, traps alone could not effectively reduce the population quickly. Traps placed 30 cm above ground level attracted more insects during the peak crop growth period. Winter season cotton suffered more whitefly infestation as compared to the summer cotton. Installation of 50 traps per hectare was found to reduce the sucking pest population almost equal to that of insecticide treated plots, while the population in plots without management practices reached the outbreak situations frequently. Cleaning the traps twice a week increased the efficiency of the traps as compared to the traps cleaned once. The traps could also be effectively combined with other methods of pest management.