Impact of intercrops on the incidence of whitefly bemisia tabaci in bt cotton

A field experiment was conducted at the Research Farm, Cotton Section, Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, CCSHAU, Hisar during kharif 2017 and 2018 to know the impact of intercrops on the incidence of whitefly in cotton crop. There were six treatments replicated four times. In one treatment cotton was grown as sole crop and in others it was intercropped with bajra (Pennisetum glaucum; variety: HHB-67 imp), sorghum (Sorghum bicolor; variety: HJ-541), sesame (Sesamum indicum; variety: HT-2), pigeonpea (Cajanus cajan; variety: Manak), cowpea (Vigna unguiculata; variety: HC-46) in 2:1 ratio. Results showed that all the intercropped treatments significantly reduced the whitefly incidence. Pooled data showed that minimum incidence was observed in cotton intercropped with sorghum (3.69 adults/ leaf) and maximum in sole cotton (10.82 adults/ leaf). Maximum seed cotton yield was realized from cotton intercropped sorghum (24.98 q/ ha) and lowest in sole cotton (20.55 q/ha).