UA Research & Outreach Debug Cotton Industry

University of Arizona’s Peter Ellsworth is among the best entomologists around. He is leading the way with research in the IPM field, creating more sustainable and viable solutions for Arizona farmers. Check out the great article below.

Pink bollworm. Silverleaf whiteflies. Lygus bugs.

These three pervasive pests devastated cotton and other crops in Arizona and beyond.

Then the University of Arizona Cooperative Extension program, in partnership with the industry, pest managers and growers, introduced three high-tech solutions that specifically targeted these insects and changed the way Arizona cotton farmers manage their crops. Annual insecticide usage has decreased by more than 1.6 million pounds.

Twenty years ago Peter Ellsworth stood in a field in southern Arizona and saw an ecosystem totally out of balance. He had accepted a job as entomologist with the University of Arizona. “I was blown away by the insect problem in this state,” he said. Today he can hardly believe the transformation.

In 1990 cotton farmers used broad-spectrum toxic insecticides that killed all insects, not just the pests. They sprayed the fields an average of 10 to 12 times a season and still didn’t control the bugs. “They were using the only technology available,” Ellsworth said.

Now cotton farmers are not spraying for pink bollworm at all. Since 2008 growers have reported zero sprays. “That’s the first time there was no spraying for this invasive pest since the mid 1960s,” Ellsworth said.

He is UA professor of entomology and director of the Arizona Pest Management Center. He’s based at the Maricopa Agricultural Center just south of Phoenix. His specialty is IPM – integrated pest management. As a cooperative extension educator, he partners with industry to help develop new technologies, then works with growers to introduce those technologies in the field. He explains the solutions that ultimately controlled each targeted pest:

Pink bollworm. Starting in 1990, the UA field-tested the first genetically engineered cotton that contained a transplanted gene from a common soil bacterium. Developed by Monsanto, this proved “very very effective” at killing pink bollworm. Today 98 percent of the cotton planted in Arizona is Bt transgenic cotton (which stands for Bacillus thuringiensis).

Silverleaf whiteflies. “In the early 1990s these tiny whiteflies filled the air to such a degree that joggers, bikers and farmers wore masks. The radiators on farm equipment overheated.” These invasive pests significantly impacted cotton, vegetables, melons and ornamental crops like lantana. UA researchers worked with the industry to field test insect growth regulators (IGRs) that mimicked the whitefly’s hormonal system and stopped its metamorphosis. In 1996 the UA applied for and received a special emergency permit to use two whitefly-specific IGRs, the first registered in the United States. Whitefly is a worldwide pest. ”As a result of our success, these IGRs, as part of an IPM plan that makes better use of natural processes, are in high demand in many other places.” Ellsworth traveled the Australian outback teaching how to use IGRs properly in that environment.

Lygus bugs. This North American pest invades cotton and a host of other crops ranging from alfalfa and canola to strawberries, eggplants and melons. Working with industry partners, Ellsworth discovered and developed another compound that works as a feeding inhibitor. Within 30 minutes of exposure, the lygus bugs can no longer pierce the plant and suck out its juices. Building on the dramatic success with cotton, the UA and Ellsworth are leading a $2.5 million research and outreach project called RAMP to control lygus bugs in multiple crops throughout the Southwest. “We are developing a better understanding of lygus biology, its movement and pest potential among different crops in order to manage this pest through crop selection and placement. This opens up a new frontier for understanding and exploiting pest biology and ecology for the benefit of our agricultural producers.”

Longtime Pinal County farmer Karl Button said the pink bollworm nearly devastated the cotton industry. “There was about a seven-year cycle of heavy crop losses – 65 to 70 percent of the crop. And a lot of poison was put down to combat it. The countryside was just drenched in it. And that’s not healthy for anybody.

“We’ve learned a lot from the UA – several individuals over there. This was an industry about to get put out of business. And they changed that.

“Pete Ellsworth spends a lot of time in the fields. He goes out and marks individual insects smaller than you can see and counts them in test plots that they’re treating. The work he does is pretty damned impressive. There’s been a big change in IPM since he showed up. And the guys who listened to him are still around.”

The UA has a long history of bringing research-based information and technology to farmers and ranchers throughout Arizona. As a land-grant university, community service is part of the UA’s founding mission. “We are a critical link in a chain that goes from the technology provider (the industry) to the technology user (the grower),” Ellsworth said.

The UA College of Agriculture and Life Sciences initiated this Integrated Pest Management program in collaboration with local growers, the USDA, Arizona Department of Agriculture, Arizona Cotton Growers Association, Cotton Incorporated, Arizona Cotton Research & Protection Council and others.

Ellsworth said, “This was a very organized campaign throughout our Arizona Cooperative Extension Service. There was a lot of education and groundwork over several years. In our first year, we trained over 700 growers and pest control advisers on how to use these technologies properly.”

Since 1996 growers have cumulatively saved an estimated $212 million in pesticide costs and reduced insect damage. Growers went from applying 4.15 pounds of active pesticide ingredient per acre to 0.48 pounds per acre per season. That is the equivalent of applying less than a can of soda to an area the size of a football field.

Unlike broad-spectrum toxins, these technologies – transgenic Bt cotton, whitefly IGRs, and a Lygus bug feeding inhibitor – impact only the target species, not any other insects, mammals, birds or other inhabitants of the ecosystem.

“IPM really is the world standard for science-based sustainable management of pests,” Ellsworth said.

link to: http://cals.arizona.edu/crops/cotton/insects/cil/cil.html

Link to Article: http://www.arizona.edu/features/ua-research-outreach-debug-cotton-industry