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Delayed sowing for pink bollworm escape in cotton

Timely sowing within a defined window is a cornerstone of the ICAR-CICR integrated package for managing Pink Bollworm in Indian cotton. The strategy times boll formation to fall outside the period of peak adult moth emergence, reducing oviposition pressure on susceptible bolls.

Principle

Pink bollworm has overlapping generations through the cotton season, with adult emergence peaking after a build-up phase of roughly 60 days post-sowing. Both very early sowing — which aligns early square and boll formation with the rising moth population — and very late sowing — which keeps susceptible bolls in the field through and beyond the peak — increase infestation. The CICR advisory therefore targets a calendar window that displaces boll formation away from the population peak, paired with a hard termination cut-off to break the cycle.

Implementation

ICAR-CICR recommends sowing cotton between 15 June and the first week of July across the Central Zone, and uprooting the crop by December irrespective of remaining green bolls. Short- to medium-duration hybrids (140-160 days) are preferred because they finish within the window and free the field in time for a rabi crop (Cotton Double Cropping Systems).

Adoption context

The advisory is promoted through ICAR's farmer-training programme and state extension departments in Telangana, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh. Combined with pheromone-trap monitoring, refuge maintenance (Refuge In Bag Cotton) and Trichogramma releases, the package has been shown to reduce pink bollworm infestation by 33-43% over farmer practice.

Limitations

The window depends on monsoon onset, soil moisture and access to short-duration seed; in years with delayed monsoon or in tail-end irrigation tracts, full compliance is difficult. The technique is more accurately described as "timely sowing within the recommended window" than as indiscriminate delay, since pushing sowing too late is itself a risk factor.

See also Pink Bollworm, Bt Cotton Bg Ii, Refuge In Bag Cotton, Cotton Double Cropping Systems, Nuziveedu Navaneeth.

References

  1. 14 ICAR-CICR Recommendations to Fight Pink Bollworm. Krishi Jagran.
  2. Preventing Cotton from Pink Bollworm: A Tale of Telangana. Agriculture Post.