Bioefficacy and Residue of Imidacloprid in Cotton

Specific management practice for sucking pests (jassid and whitefly) of cotton is reported incorporating a new insecticide imidacloprid. The insecticide was applied as follar appllcatton (0.005 and 0.02%) as well as seed treatment (3 and 5 g kg⁻¹ seed). The seed treatment controlled jassid population upto 61–76 days. Significant increase (136.7%) in yield of seed cotton due to protection with imidacloprid seed treatment was noticed in 1995. Overall, imidacloprid was very effective against jassid even at the lower dose of 3 g kg⁻¹ of seed treatment and 0.005% foliar treatment and protected the crop till the initiation of spraying against bollworms. No residue of imidacloprid was detected at harvest in samples of lint, seed and soil collected from plots with seed-treatment.