ABSTRACT

Four existing data sets were used to study relationships of the tobacco budworm Heliothis virescens F. and cotton bollworm, Helicoverpa zea (Boddie) with end of the season plant damage. End of the season yield or 'box mapping', within season plant mapping, and within season insect samples were used in the analysis. The specific fruiting branch/position combination of the surviving fruit was grouped into comparable same age-class cohorts. The estimated date of initiation of these cohorts was used to compare end of the season box mapping results with within the season information. Correlation analysis was used to examine the results of individual data sets and combined information across the four data sets. When all fields were combined, the number of budworms and bollworms present on an insect sampling date was negatively correlated with the number of harvested bolls that were produced from the previous sampling date based on end of the season yield mapping results.