Cotton is important commercial crop of Punjab. The present study was conducted in Muktsar district of Punjab to analyse the adoption dynamics of recommended production techniques of Bt cotton crop by selecting 160 cotton growers representing small, medium and large category of land holding. Study reveals that majority of the respondents had adopted recommended Bt cotton hybrids on their fields, sown timely by using the recommended seed rate. Growing refuge is a vital practice in Bt cotton cultivation which was adopted by only 10 per cent of the farmers whereas foliar spray of potassium nitrate was practiced by 23.75 per cent of the farmers. Bt cotton growers were found to be using more number of sprays for sucking pests management as compared to bollworm management. Observation of Economic threshold level (ETL) level was not found to be very popular among cotton growers for adopting chemical control measures. Study emphasize to intensity former training programs in the areas of proper Bt cotton hybrid selection, growing refuge crop and need based use of pesticides.
Bt cotton, adoption, refuge, pesticides, IPM, Punjab
