ABSTRACT

DOUBLETHREAT^TM is an insecticide product composed of the two active ingredients, bifenthrin and spinosad. This concept of use of these two active ingredients was born out from the cotton consultant community and the advent of Cry 1Ab Bt cotton. As Bt Cotton is efficacious only against Cotton Budworm (Heliothes virescens), Cotton Bollworm (Helicoverpa zea) control is not as effective. Bt cotton does not control the other cotton insect pests, where as Capture applied at 0.06 lb ai/A provided commercially acceptable control of Heliothis virescens (F.), Helicoverpa zea (Boddie), Anthonomus grandis Boheman, Lygus spp., Aphis gossypii Glover and phytophagous Pentatomidae equal to or better than that of of other pyrethroids. Capture at 0.06 lb ai/A also provided Tetranychus urticae control equal to that of the standard miticides. Spinosad is a new class of insecticide that has broadspectrum lepidopterous activity, including pyrethroid resistant Cotton Budworms. The combination of these two insecticides, bifenthrin and spinosad, has resulted in a broad spectrum cotton insecticide that has made conventional (Non-Bt) cotton economically viable. In a set of trials conducted by consultants across the Cotton Belt, DOUBLETHREAT ^TM treated conventional cotton was more profitable to grow than Bt cotton by approximately $37/acre. This profitability comparison took into account all input costs of pesticides , GMO royalties, fertilizer, seed and tillage.