ARS | Publication request: EFFECTS OF BURIAL AND SOIL CONDITION ON POST-HARVEST MORTALITY OF BOLL WEEVILS (COLEOPTERA: CURCULIONIDAE) ON SENESCED COTTON SQUARES AND BOLLS

Submitted to: Journal of Economic Entomology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: December 1, 2003
Publication Date: April 1, 2004
Citation: Greenberg, S.M., Showler, A., Sappington, T.W., Bradford, J.M. 2004. Effects of burial and soil condition on post-harvest mortality of boll weevils (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) on senesced cotton squares and bolls. Journal of Economic Entomology. 97(2):409-413.

Interpretive Summary: Cotton production in the United States continues to be limited by boll weevil populations which caused an estimated crop loss of 838,900 bales in 2002 despite the use of conventional insecticides. Alternatives to conventional insecticides include cultural control techniques such as tillage operations that modify the soil habitat of boll weevils during part of their life cycle. We found that the major factor responsible for the mortality of boll weevils in fallen cotton fruit in post-harvest conservation tillage fields in the Lower Rio Grande Valley was high soil surface temperatures. However, boll weevil mortality in post-harvest conventional tillage fields was reduced because the larvae in buried infested cotton fruit were protected from lethally hot temperatures by the 25-cm layer of soil. Burial of infested fruit resulted in significantly greater weevil mortality in wet sand or clay than in dry or clumpy soil conditions. Our study demonstrated the feasibility of cultural management of overwintered boll weevil control. Results from this research show additional benefits of conservation tillage, other than wind erosion control and water conservation.

Technical Abstract: Effects of soil condition and burial on boll weevil, Anthonomus grandis grandis Boheman, mortality in fallen cotton, Gossypium hirsutum L., squares and bolls (fruit) were assessed in this study. During hot weather immediately following summer harvest operations in the Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas, burial of infested fruit in conventionally tilled field plots permitted greater (P