Department of Plant Breeding, Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar-125 004, Haryana.
The seasonal occurrence of male pink bollworm (Pectinophora gossypiella Saunders) moths and larvae was studied from 1981 to 1985 by means of sex pheromone traps using gossyplure and through examination of green bolls for larvae. Pink boll-worm moths remained active through out the year with minimum intensity during the summer (May and June) and winter (January and February). The most active period of moth emergence from the larvae of long cycle brood started as early as March and continued as late as mid July, with maximum emergence between mid March to end April, when the mean fluctuating temperature ranged between 22°C (March) to 26.5°C (April). Moth emergence from the short cycle brood started from middle of July to first week of November when the moth population was maxi-mum. The population of pink bollworm larvae showed positive correlation with the emergence of moths. Maximum of 153.7 larvae/100 green bolls were recorded during second week of November i.e. ten days after peak in moth emergence. The main period of moth emergence from August to first week of October coincides well with effective boll setting in H-777. Therefore, application of insecticides during this period can be based on the number of moths captured in pheromone traps.
