Impact of Bt cotton in different management modules under Rainfed agro-ecosystem

Field trial was laid to find out the impact of Bt cotton technology (containing Cry 1 Ac) on bollworms incidence and seed cotton yield over its non-Br counterpart (NBf-cotton) under different management modules viz., Integrated Pest Management module, Insecticide Spray module and Check module (no intervention). Experimental results reveal that, by adopting the Bt cotton technology, on an average, reduction in square damage due to Helicoverpa armigera ranged from 78.8 to 89.3%. Similarly, reduction in open locule damage due to Pectinophora gossypiella ranged from 91.0 to 94.3% in different modules, highest reduction was observed in check module. Maximum advantage was observed in realization of higher kapas yield per ha. Due to Bt cotton technology, additional kapas of 795 kg/ha was realized in check module, followed by 472 kg/ha in Insecticide Spray module and 395 kg/ha in IPM module in comparison with non-Bf counterpart. However, I.P.M. with Bt cotton recorded highest cost benefit ratio of 1:2.26 followed by insecticide spray module with Bt cotton (1:1.92). Hence, it is evident that Bt technology was successful in reducing the damage due to bollworms and realizing more kapas yield per ha.