IPM – An Ecofriendly Approach to Manage the Pink Boll Worm (Pectinophora gossypiella) in Bt Cotton of Mancherial District, Telangana State

A Front Line Demonstration (FLD) on Integrated Pest Management (IPM) practices for the management of pink boll worm, Pectinophora gossipiella (Saunders) in Bt cotton has been conducted in different villages in various mandals of Mancherial district in Telangana state during Kharif (June – December) season of 2018–19, 2019–20 and 2020–21, respectively to create awareness about the IPM practices among the farming community. The adoption of IPM practices like installation of pheromone traps at 45 DAS, removal & destruction of rosette flowers, spraying of Azadiractin 1500ppm and need-based application of selective insecticides etc. were carried out. The results revealed that the lowest per cent rosette flowers (6.63, 6.52 and 2.84) and green boll damage (5.71, 8.91 and 13.39) was recorded in IPM demonstrated plots over farmers practice (per cent rosette flowers (11.69, 8.51 & 13.39), green boll damage (8.57, 10.46 and 21.84) with increased yields of 7.83, 9.98 and 9.85 during corresponding Kharif (June – December), 2018–19, 2019–20 and 2020–21. Further, the demonstration plots registered with higher cotton yield of 2079, 1785 and 1817 kg ha-1 as compared to 1928, 1623 and 1654 kg ha-1 under farmers practice. The Cost- Benefit ratio of 1.89, 1.90 and 1.80, respectively in the technology demonstrated plots whereas in farmers practice the recorded Cost - Benefit ratio of 1.55, 1.64 and 1.45 during corresponding Kharif (June – December), 2018–19, 2019–20 and 2020–21. Hence, need to popularize the IPM practices through FLD among the farming community to alleviate the gap between the improved technology and farmer’s practice.