ABSTRACT

The use of the "Attract and Control" technology (based on the Bait Stick) in boll weevil control, prevention, suppression and eradication continues to make good progress and is being positioned to play a more important role in 1.9 million acres of area-wide programs in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia and Paraguay.

The "Bait Stick" (known as the BWACT in the USA, the Tubo Mata Bicudo or TMB in Brazil and the Tubo Mata Picudo or TMP in Spanish speaking Latin America) has been successfully used by Paraguay for 7 years (in about 500,000 ac.) and by Colombia for 3 years (in about 100,000 ac.) in their National Cotton Programs. In state programs in Northeast Brazil (Alagoas, Ceará, Paraíba, Pernambuco and Rio Grande do Norte, currently about 250,000 ac.), the TMB is being deployed as a strategic component to reactivate family farm cotton production and expand "colored cotton" production; while in the cen-tral states of Goias and Mata Grosso, the TMB is being evaluated as an effective, economical and environmentally friendly product to stop the exploding weevil populations in about 475,000 acres. For 8 years, the country of Argentina (in about 600,000 ac.) has successfully used pheromone traps and TMPs as part of their program to detect, eradicate and prevent the establishment of boll weevils in their major cotton zones. The Argentines (SENASA) have a strong desire to collaborate on similar programs with Brazil in the States of Parana and Sao Paulo (about 150,000 ac.) and with Paraguay in its departments (same as states) of Neembucu, Misiones and Itapua (about 100,000 ac.); SENASA wants to move the "line of defense against the boll weevil" further away from their cotton growing zones.

The "Bait Stick" or TMB/TMP results from the national and state area-wide programs in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia and Paraguay have been outstanding. Where used correctly, boll weevil populations have been reduced by 95+%, seed cotton yields have been increased an average of 350 lbs. per acre and insecticide usage for boll weevil control has been reduced from an average of 7 per crop to less than 1. As a result, the incidence of mammalian poisoning, outbreaks of secondary pests and damage to beneficial insect populations have practically been eliminated. When used according to recommenda-tions, the TMB/TMP programs have eliminated the economic damage from boll weevils at an approximate per acre cost of $8.80 per crop cycle and resulted in an average "cost to benefit" ratio of "$1 to $12".

Results from the aforementioned programs are presented herein.

Index terms: Anthonomus grandis, boll weevil eradication, BWACT, Grandlure.