and Integrated Pest Management - part - usaid

AN APPROACH TO INTEGRATED PEST
MANAGEMENT: ACTIVITIES OF THE PHILIPPINE.
GERMAN COTTON PROJECT
V. Hasse*, A. Drews, R. Coraics, and A. Querubin
Philippine-German Cotton Project, c/o GTZ
71h. Floor Teza Towers, Herrera St.
Makati, Metro Manila, Philippines
(*Present address: Burmese-Gennan Plant Protection Project
c/o German Embassy Rangoon, Postbox 1148
5300 Bonn 1,Federal Republic of Germany)
Cotton-growing in the Philippines has historically been constrained by
serious pest problems. Early attempts to introduce 1hreshold levels (Disu 1980)
were abandoned by the Philippine Cotton Corporation in favor of scheduled
pesticide application. However, the resultant high pest control costs were
coupled with only moderate yields and it became obvious that a mole economic
approach to pest management was needed (Daxl 1980).
The post complex of cotton in the Philippines consists of 30 described
arthropod pests of cotton, of which 12 occur regularly (Schmutterer 1978) and 3
may be described as key pests . When the Philippine-German Cotton Project
started in 1981, it was apparent that to be successful, any integrated pest
management system needed a holistic approach, simplified enough to enable
small farmers to understand and adopt the approach.
Research concentrated on cultural control programs to which farmers could
relate, coupled with redesigned biocontrol methods appropriate to village
technology. These were supported by IPM-based rapid, accurate sampling
methods which were initially used by field technicians and subsequently adapted
for farmers' use as a guide in spraying decisions.
Since many pest outbreaks in cetton have been attributed to secondary pests
or resurgent minor pests (Huffaker 1980), research focussed mainly on integrated
control of the three key pests Ainrasca biguitula(Shir.), the cotton leafhopper;
Arnorphoidea lata Motsch., the cotton flower weevil; and lleliothis armigera
(Jib.), the cotton bollworm.
MANAGEMENT OF COTTON LEAFHOPPER
Deltapine 16 gave the best yields
varieties,
of the introduced
but it was highly
American
susceptible
cotton
to
not
Arnrasca
occur in
biguttula,a
North America.
pest which
A. bigiulathrives
does
on glabrous (hairless) cotton
leaves, feeding on
the underside of the leaves between the veins. It is usually
most severe early in the season. Symptoms of "hopperburn', a discoloration and
curling of the leaves caused by the leafhopper's toxic saliva, frequently leads to
yield losses or total destruction of the crop.