MISSISSIPPI STATE – Four Mississippi State University entomologists are among a group of Mid-South colleagues being honored for a continuing project to identify effective cotton pest management strategies.

The group received the “Friends of IPM ‘Pulling Together’” award from the Southern Region Integrated Pest Management Center at North Carolina State University. The award recognizes the success of groups working with integrated pest management, which is a combination of techniques and strategies to control agricultural pests.

Group members from MSU are Don Cook, Jeff Gore, Angus Catchot and Fred Musser. Cook and Gore are based at the Delta Research and Extension Center in Stoneville, and Catchot and Musser are on campus at MSU.

The project for which they have been recognized involves entomologists from MSU, Louisiana State University, the University of Arkansas, the University of Missouri, the University of Tennessee and the Agricultural Research Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

One of the pests the group investigated is the tarnished plant bug, an insect that can infest early-season cotton. The eradication of the boll weevil, the widespread adoption of transgenic cotton varieties and the changes in the agricultural landscape have created opportunities for the bugs to thrive during the production year. Insecticide use to manage tarnished plant bug populations has tripled over the past 10 years, and the pest has developed resistance to many of these chemicals.

Writer: Patti Drapala
Contact: Dr. Scott Willard, (662) 325-2640