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Improving Cotton IPM with Spatially Variable Insecticide (SVI) Applications

B.R. Leonard, R.D. Bagwell, R. Price, R. Downer, K.W. Paxton, D. Magoun, M. Bethel, M. Seale, J. Hardwick and E. Barham


ABSTRACT

GIS/GPS technologies and decision support systems that are currently available are being adapted to address specific arthropod management needs of producers in a user-friendly format. The associated knowledge to utilize the tools of precision agriculture must be developed in a user-friendly format and transferred to cotton producers, commercial pesticide applicators, and agricultural consultants. This research attempts to address these problems through the collaborative efforts of a multidisciplinary team approach and encompasses the efforts of specialists in the fields of agronomy, entomology, engineering, economics, computer science, statistics, and extension education. The goal of the project is to moderate production costs by integrating spatially variable insecticide (SVI) applications with established IPM practices based on sufficient scientific data. If significant relationships can be established between digital images representing crop development patterns and arthropod pest populations, agricultural consultants can improve the efficiency of their operations by sampling only those areas of fields associated with those pests. Furthermore, SVI applications can target only those areas that need treatment when action thresholds are exceeded. Low yielding areas of fields or those with low pest densities would not be treated. The full potential of geospatial and precision agricultural technologies in cotton production will not be realized until producers, agricultural consultants, extension agents, and commercial pesticide applicators become confident in this technology. Therefore, research and extension scientists must develop a non-biased base of information that can be transferred to the cotton industry. These experiments provide the framework for a science-based assessment of the technologies, demonstrate prescription pesticide applications, calculate the value of these technologies, and technology transfer to producers.





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Document last modified May 20, 2002