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There is a future
According to researcher Valdinei Sofiatti, da Embrapa Cotton, amore efficient control over crop residues and volunteer plants
is of fundamental importance when it comes to dealing with the pest without an exaggerated number of pesticide applications.
“New technologies, like soybean resistant to herbicides Dicamba and 2,4-D, which will soon reach the market, will facilitate the
control over the remaining crop residues and volunteer plants, which could reduce the infestation intensity of the boll weevil in
the cotton fields”, he believes.
Researcher Carlos Alberto Domingues da Silva insists that Embrapa and its partners have been engaged for years in the develop-
ment of cotton plants resistant to the boll weevil, through conventional genetic enhancement and transgenics. “In the short run, via
conventional enhancement, short cycle, fast fructification and productive cotton cultivars”, he stresses. In the medium run, he antici-
pates that transgenic cotton cultivars, resistant to the boll weevil, are on theway, resulting into drastic reductions in production costs.
T
he boll weevil (Anthonomus
grandis) is one of the most se-
vere pests that has spread
across the Brazilian cotton
fields. It is native to Mesoamer-
ica, and arrived to the national territo-
ry in the 1980s and, over the years, it has
caused serious headaches to the farmers.
In the infested fields, crop failure is esti-
mated to range from 54% to 87%. In the
Country, the economic losses brought
about by the insect vary from US$ 70 to
US$ 130 per hectare, in 2017 – only con-
sidering costs related to spraying, without
including productivity losses.
According to researcher Carlos Alberto
Domingues da Silva, from Embrapa Cot-
ton, several factors contribute towards
the presence of the boll weevil in Brazil-
ian fields, like failure to adopt controlling
measures, reduction of plant diversity in
the agro-eco-systems and deficient crop
rotation practices, besides the establish-
ment of cotton fields in regions and sea-
sons that favor boll weevil outbreaks,
along with deficiently conducted destruc-
tions of crop remains. “Cotton farmers
should pay heed to flawedmeasures, with
no technical support, for keeping the in-
sect under control”, he warns.
Now, the researcher insists that one
of the main controlling practices that
is recommended is known as Integrat-
ed Pest Management of Cotton (IPN –
Cotton),which consists in the adoption of
different strategies for reducing the pop-
ulation of arthropod pests, in economic
manner and in harmony with the environ-
ment. Nevertheless, he notes that, for the
success of thesemeasures, samplings have
to be conducted in order to determine the
control levels of the pests and the perfor-
mance of the natural enemies, with an eye
towards maximizing the use of pesticides.
Researcher Valdinei Sofiatti also re-
minds the farmers of the need of a fallow
period for the total elimination of all crop
remains in order to reduce the boll wee-
vil population during the fallow season.
“The control of volunteer plants of cotton
in planted crops is also important, as this
prevents the pest frommultiplying andmi-
grating to nearby crops”, he notes. “With-
out any doubt, a number of boll weevils
will always survive and infest the fields.
Therefore, there is need formonitoring and
chemical control, if necessary”.
It gives
norespite
By virtue of the decline in
fieldsfor30yearsnow,thebollweevil(Anthonomus
grandis)continuescausingeconomicproblems
Present in the Brazi an cotton
Estimated crop failure ranges from54% to 87% in infested fields
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