ABSTRACT

Bollgard cotton provides acceptable control of the tobacco budworm, Heliothis virescens (F.). Consequently, fields planted with Bollgard cotton have not required insecticide applications to control tobacco budworms since this technology was released in 1996. Control of the bollworm, Helicoverpa zea (Boddie), is less than adequate under some situations. When intense oviposition occurs over extended periods of time, bollworm larvae often are observed feeding in white flowers and on small bolls under dried bloomtags. Insecticide applications that target bollworms are made to many Bollgard fields annually in the mid-South. Experiments were conducted in Louisiana and Mississippi to determine the impact of bollworms on genetically engineered Bollgard and Bollgard II cottons.