Annual estimates of cotton losses due to specific disease, insect and weed pests are made broadly available to public and private sectors. The Cotton Belt data, gathered at the Coordination Center at Mississippi State University, are useful for: 1) analyzing the market potential for new plant protection products, 2) establishing the importance of currently registered products that are threatened by cancellation or use restrictions and 3) setting research and educational priorities.

The databases of 1978-2004 insect loss and weed loss data and the 1952-2004 disease loss data have been completed, and a consultant will incorporate the 2005 results into the database. The information is published in the Beltwide Cotton Conference Proceedings, available on CD-ROM, and placed on the NCC web site for downloading.

Field and greenhouse evaluations are being conducted on a range of Acala, non-Acala Upland and Pima varieties to determine how broadly susceptible they may be to the Fusarium oxysporum in the San Joaquin Valley.

In this ongoing project, University of California researchers have noted that susceptible Pima cottons are more severely affected from Fusarium oxysporum in terms of foliar damage, stem vascular staining and plant stunting and mortality, but Acala and non-Acala Upland varieties can be affected, too.

Field and greenhouse evaluations, in coordination with USDA Agricultural Research Service scientists, are being conducted in 2005 on a range of Acala, non-Acala Upland and Pima varieties to determine how broadly susceptible these cottons may be to the Fusarium oxysporum in the San Joaquin Valley. Plant samples under field conditions are being evaluated to verify the presence or absence of the race 4 strain of the Fusarium oxysporum; and greenhouse and in-soil screening of commercial varieties and germplasm is being conducted in order to identify more resistant plant material.

Growers in areas affected by this pathogen also are now able to utilize field trial results to select what so far appears to be a highly-resistant Pima commercial variety to lessen impacts on crop yield and reduce production of additional inoculum.

Coordinated by Don Blasingame, all existing reniform nematode management options will be examined, integrated into a total management package and placed on The Cotton Foundation’s web site for producers to access.

Among information to be contained on the completed page will be the pest’s biology, life cycle and symptoms; updated loss data; and management recommendations that may include such practices as crop rotation, variety trials, cover crops and fertility management.

The page, scheduled for completion in late 2005, is being developed in cooperation with the nematologists in Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana and Mississippi.

Cotton is among the most intensely-managed crops in the Mid-South, and pest management mistakes cost producers millions of dollars annually.

Under the direction of Dr. Ralph Bagwell at the Louisiana State University AgCenter and a program planning committee, a new training program is being developed for consultants, county agents, scouts and others involved in helping Mid-South cotton producers.

A workshop will be held at the Agricenter International in Memphis on November 1-2. An interactive, hands-on training format will be used to impart cutting-edge pest management information, strategies and technologies. Among topics already identified for the workshop are uses of palm computers in the field, sampling methodology and pest identification/symptomology.