Published By 
Sucking Pests of Cotton: The most important commercial crop cultivated in India is cotton. The attracts many insect pests which is the major problem in the cultivation. Major pests of cotton are sucking pests which prevail mostly in dry weather conditions & less rainfall regions. The major sucking pests are leaf hoppers, whitefly, Aphid, Red cotton bug.
Leaf hoppers: These are wedge-shaped insects with black spot on each forewing & two small black spots on the vertex. Nymphs & adults damage the crop by sucking the sap from the leaves. They move diagonally when disturbed. Causes typical damage called “Hopper burn” where the edges of leaves curl downwards & become yellowish then reddish before drying-out and shedding.
Management: Avoid excess use of nitrogenous fertilizers. Adopt clean cultivation with weed free land. Collect & destroy affected plant parts along with nymphal stages. Spray Thiomethoxam 25%WG @0.5g or Imidachloprid 17.8% SL @0.7ml or Difenthiuron @ 1.5g per litre of water 2-3 times at an interval of 7 days.
Whitefly: Most notorious insect pest fo cotton. Adult body is yellowish & is covered with white, fine waxy powder. The nymphs & adults suck sap from phloem tissue by remaining on the undersidse of the leaf. The leaves curl downward & turn yellowish-brown & fall off. The infestation results in sooty mould disease which favours ants attack. Whitefly also acts as vector for leaf curl virus disease in cotton.
Management: Avoid cultivation of alternate hosts near the cotton field & destroy weed hosts & crop stubbles including cotton sprouts as they may harbour whitefly. Avoid over-irrigation in the cotton field. Install blue sticky traps @ 25-30 per acre to monitor the pest survillence. Collect and remove the infested plant parts. Spray Thiomethoxam 25%WG @0.5g or Imidachloprid 17.8% SL @0.7ml or Acetamiprid 20% SP@ 0.2g per litre of water can reduce the severe pest infestation in cotton field.
Also Read: Improved paddy varieties of AP: Improved varieties of paddy for sowing in delayed monsoon in AP
Sucking Pests of Cotton
Aphid: Polyphagous pest with yellowish, green or greenish brown body colour. Due to the infestation of aphids leaves become shiny with honeydew or darkened by sooty mould. Crumpling & downward curling was observed. Severe infestation may lead to the yellowing, drying, withering of infested leaves.
Management: Collect and destroy the infested plant parts. Spray imidachloprid 17.8 SL @ 0.7ml or Thiometohxam 25% WG@ 0.5g per litre of water can reduce the pest attack.
Red cotton bug: These are also called as Cotton stainer. The aadult bugs are elongated & slender and crimson red with white bands across the abdomen. Both nymohs & adults suck the cell sap from leavese and green bolls of cotton. Heavily attacked bolls open badly and the lint is of poor quality. Bugs stain the lint with their excreta or body juices. Infested bolls may exhibit buggy odour.
Management: Spray Chloropyriphos 20EC @ 2ml or Profenophos 50EC @ 2ml or Acephate 1G per litre of water.
Also Read: Bacterial Diseases in Sheep and Goats: Management of bacterial diseases in sheep and goats.!
