Farmers' Knowledge and Perceptions of Cotton Insect Pests and their Management Practices in Haryana

A survey was carried out in major cotton growing districts namely, Hisar, Sirsa and Bhiwani of Haryana state for acquiring information on farmers' knowledge, perception and practices of insect pest management in Gossypium hirsutum during kharif, 2019. Majority of respondents (70.0%) belonged to the age group of 40-60 years with an overall literacy rate of 87 per cent and 56 per cent of the respondents had more than 15 years of experience in cotton cultivation. RCH 773 BG II, RCH 776 BG II, US 51 BG II,Ankur 3028 BG II and US 81 BG II were the most commonly grown hybrids by the farmers. Whitefly, Bemisia tabaci and leafhopper, Amrasca biguttula biguttula were identified as the most important pests among sucking pests in Bt cotton. All the farmers targeted whitefly and leafhopper for control whereas none targeted the dusky cotton and red cotton bug for control. The incidence, severity and yield losses caused by whitefly and leafhopper were estimated to be high by 100.0, 86.6 & 82.7; 76.6, 74.0 & 64.6 per cent farmers, respectively. Cent per cent farmers adopted control measures at 61-90 days after sowing as highest pest incidence was estimated by cent per cent farmers in this duration. Majority of the farmers (44.6%) were dependent on agriculture input dealers for information on cotton cultivation followed by CCS HAU, Hisar/ICAR-CICR-RS, Sirsa (34.6%). Higher cost of insecticides, extreme weather conditions, lack of knowledge about bioagent and poor efficacy of insecticides were identified as major constraints faced by farmers for insect pest management in cotton. Insecticides like imidacloprid, thiamethoxam, emamectin benzoate, fipronil, dimethoate and monocrotophos were mainly used by farmers to manage sucking pests. Besides, newer insecticides like flonicamid, dinotefuran, diafenthiuron, spiromesifen and spinetoram were also used by farmers.