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RESEARCH ARTICLE

Integrated pest management in cotton: exploiting behaviour-modifying (semiochemical) compounds for managing cotton pests

Robert K. Mensah A F , Peter C. Gregg B , Alice P. Del Socorro B , Christopher J. Moore D , Anthony J. Hawes C and Nick Watts E
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A NSW Department of Primary Industries, Locked Bag 1000, Narrabri, NSW 2390, Australia.

B University of New England, Armidale, NSW 2351, Australia.

C AgBiTech Pty Ltd, PO Box 537, Richmond, NSW 2753, Australia.

D Formerly: Queensland Department of Primary Industries, GPO Box 46, Brisbane, Qld 4001, Australia.

E Growth Agriculture Pty Ltd, PO Box 444, Wee Waa, NSW 2388, Australia.

F Corresponding author. Email: Robert.Mensah@dpi.nsw.gov.au

Crop and Pasture Science 64(8) 763-773 https://doi.org/10.1071/CP13060
Submitted: 13 February 2013  Accepted: 1 October 2013   Published: 29 October 2013

Abstract

We review here research on semiochemicals for cotton pest management carried out in successive Cotton Co-operative Research Centres from 1998 to 2012. Australian cotton is now dominated by transgenic (Bt) varieties, which provide a strong platform for integrated pest management of key pests such as Helicoverpa spp., but new technologies are required to manage the development of resistance in Helicoverpa spp. to transgenic cotton and the problems posed by emerging and secondary pests, especially sucking insects. A long-range attractant for Helicoverpa moths, based on plant volatiles, has been commercialised as Magnet®. The product has substantial area-wide impacts on moth populations, and only limited effects on beneficial insects. Potential roles are being investigated for this product in resistance management of Helicoverpa spp. on transgenic cotton. Short-range, non-volatile compounds on organ surfaces of plants that do not support development of Helicoverpa spp. have been identified; these compounds deter feeding or oviposition, or are toxic to insect pests. One such product, Sero X®, is effective on Helicoverpa spp. and sucking pests such as whiteflies (Bemisia tabaci), green mirids (Creontiades dilutus), and other hemipteran insects, and is in the advanced stages of commercialisation.

Additional keywords: attractants, deterrents, Australia, Helicoverpa, insect behaviour, sucking pests.


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