Hostname: page-component-7479d7b7d-q6k6v Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-11T23:11:06.186Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The response of cotton to pest attack

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 July 2009

A. G. L. Wilson
Affiliation:
CSIRO, Division of Land Research, Canberra, Australia
R. D. Hughes
Affiliation:
CSIRO, Division of Entomology, Canberra, Australia
N. Gilbert
Affiliation:
Institute of Animal Resource Ecology, U.B.C., Vancouver, Canada

Extract

From trials with cotton (variety Stoneville 7A) grown on the Ord River Irrigation Area of Western Australia, the results of delaying insecticide protection of crops against Heliothis attack by four and eight weeks were re-examined. With each delay the crop set later when temperatures were cooler, the plants older and larger, and the accumulated insect damage greater. Yet there was no significant difference in the final number of bolls produced in each crop. The growth of cotton and the compensatory mechanisms of the plant indicated by the data were simulated by a simple computer model. A modification of the model to simulate the response of a cotton plant to attack by Heliothis larvae was also developed. Output from the model suggests that, under the conditions of the experiment, there is a theoretical maximum number of bolls produced by this cotton variety. To produce this maximum crop requires complete protection from Heliothis larvae, but the period of protection can be minimised.

Type
Research Paper
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1972

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Balls, W. L. (1954). The yields of a crop.—160 pp. London, Spon.Google Scholar
Cullen, J. M. (1970). Reproduction and survival of Heliothis punctigera in South Australia.—220 pp. Ph.D. Thesis, University of Adelaide.Google Scholar
Eaton, F. M. (1931). Early defloration as a method of increasing Cotton yields and the relation of fruitfulness to fiber and boll characters.—J. agric. Res. 42, 447462.Google Scholar