ABSTRACT

The cotton fleahopper, Pseudatomoscelis seriatus Reuter, is a key pest in much of the cotton growing regions of Texas and Oklahoma. While progress in eradicating the boll weevil has eliminated the need to apply early-season insecticides for boll weevil, these early season treatments are yet needed to protect squaring cotton from cotton fleahopper. The development of cotton varieties resistant to cotton fleahopper offers an opportunity to further reduce the need for early season insecticide applications and benefit from the associated cost savings and the preservation of natural enemy populations which suppress insect pests. We recently initiated a project to identify resistance to cotton fleahopper in current genotypes and in intro- and intraspecific introgressed populations of cotton developed through a cooperative program at the Texas A&M Cotton Improvement Laboratory. Field and insectary methods using choice and no-choice methods, respectively, were developed and showed promise as efficient methods for screening cotton for resistance to cotton fleahopper.