Crops cotton

Pests and Insecticides. The most destmctive pests of the cotton plant are the boU weevil and the boUworm/budworm complex. They are serious threats to the cotton industry in countries around the world. The boU weevil migrated from Mexico around 1892 and spread over the entire cotton belt within 30 years. The domestic cotton crop lost to the weevil is worth 200 million a year. In addition, about 75 million a year is spent for pesticides to control this destmctive pest (8). Unfortunately, some insecticides used to control the weevil kill many beneficial insects. Among the undesired casualties are insects that help to control the boUworm and the tobacco budworm, pests that cause another 200 million loss in cotton. 

Harvesting. Except for the cotton gin, the introduction of the mechanical harvester has probably had a greater effect on cotton production than any other single event. Commercial mechanical harvesters were introduced into the United States after World War 11. By 1955, about 23% of the cotton was mechanically harvested. That value had increased to 85% by 1965. In the early 1990s more than 99% of the U.S. cotton crop was mechanically harvested, although cotton was stiH hand harvested in some other countries. 

The cotton leaf worm [Alabama argillacea (Hbn.)] and several other leaf-feeding lepidopterous larvae, particularly Anomis texana Riley and the salt-marsh caterpillar [Estigmene acrea (Drury)], sometimes cause total destruction of the cotton crop in localized areas. 

Because of cost/proflt relationships, for example, harvesting methods vary with cultural practices. About 30 percent of the U. S. cotton crop is stripper-harvested. In Texas, more than 80 percent of the cotton is stripper-harvested because of crop culture, low harvesting cost, and high harvesting capacity associated with strippers. 

The flora of raw cotton in the field is different from that of raw baled cotton. Some data from the literature are summarized in Table III. Field-grown cottons and their plant parts contain many more gram-negative microorganisms and fungi than do green-house-grown cottons. The weeds that contaminate the cotton crop... 

The microorganism was classified as a new species of actinomycete. Streptomyces avermitilis. Its anthelmintic activity was shown to reside in 8 closely related macrocyclic lactones, named avermectins, which were also found to possess activity against free-living and parasitic arthropods. One of the natural components, avermectin is now being evaluated as a pesticide for the control of mites of citrus and cotton crops and control of the Red Imported Fire Ant. A chemical derivative, 22,23-dihydroavermectin or ivermectin, has been developed as an antiparasitic agent. It is being marketed for use in cattle, horses and sheep and is expected to become available for swine and dogs. 

Toxaphene Pesticide - organochlorine - bioaccumulates - extensively used on US cotton crops from 1 947 to 1 980 Manufacture and use prohibited in the US... 

Arsenic trioxide finds major use in the preparation of other compounds, notably those used in agricultural applications, The compounds monosodium methylarsonate. disodium methylarsonate, methane arsenic acid (cacodylic acid) are used for weed control, while arsenic acid, H3ASO4, is used as a desiccant for the defoliation of cotton crops, Other compounds once widely used in agriculture are calcium arsenate for control of boll weevils, lead arsenate as a pesticide for fruit crops, and sodium arsenite as a herbicide and for cattle and sheep dip. In some areas, arsenilic acid has been used as a feed additive for swine and poultry. Restrictions on these compounds vary from one country and region to the next. 

As much as two-thirds of a cotton crop can creep into the food chain. Each year, half a million tons of cottonseed oil make its way into salad dressings, baked goods, and snack food another 3 million tons of raw cottonseed are fed to beef and dairy cattle. 

Sally s neighboring cotton growers were afraid that Sally s organically grown, colored cotton would contaminate the white cotton crops grown in the same valley and processed in the same gins. They imposed strict rules on her operation, which forced her to move to Arizona in 1993. Six years later, Arizona cotton growers did the same... 

One of the major reasons for the interest in insect pheromones is their potential for use to control pests. In one method a large number of traps, baited with small amounts of the sex attractant of the female insect, are used to trap enough males that the breeding of the insects is decreased. In another method that requires fewer traps, a small number of traps are used to monitor the population of the target insect. The best time to apply pesticides can be determined by monitoring these traps. In one case, 10 to 15 applications of a pesticide to control the pink bollworm still resulted in damage to 30% of a cotton crop. This was decreased to almost no damage with only one to two pesticide applications when the ideal times for these applications were determined by the use of traps. 

House-flies are irritating and a minor health hazard, but the cotton boll weevil is an enormously destructive pest of the American cotton crop and is responsible for vast economic losses. The weevil has a pheromone called grandisol. The structure and synthesis of grandisol are rather more complicated than the syntheses of muscalure, but all the reactions are ones you have met in the first 24 chapters of the book. 

The herbicide kills weeds in cotton crops rather than the cotton plant itself ... 

Unlike synthetic fibers, which are spun from synthetic or regenerated polymers in factories, cotton fiber is a natural agricultural product. The United States and some other countries use the newest and latest tested technology to produce the cotton crop [8,9]. Cotton... 

The Quality Control Division of Cotton, South Africa, is mainly responsible for the grading and classification of the South African cotton crop but this is not a compulsory... 

Snicide deaths and impnlsive acts of self-harm associated with pesticides have cansed increasing global concern. It has been reported that deliberate ingestion associated with pesticides has resnlted in 2-3 million hospital admissions and about 220,000 deaths each year. In recent years, pesticides have been used in a spate of suicides in some parts of India (Andhra Pradesh). Pest resistance and resurgence (mainly on cotton crops) and abuse of pesticides because of lack of strict market regulation of toxic chemicals like pesticides have been found to be the causative factors of human poisonings. 

J. Carpenter, A. Felsot, T. Goode, M. Hammig, D. Onstad, S. Sankula, Comparative Environmental Impacts of Biotechnology-Derived and Traditional Soybean, Com, and Cotton Crops. Council for Agricultural Science and Technology, Ames, 2002.. 

Cotton is both a food (cottonseed oil) and a fiber (cotton lint) crop. For each 100 kg (220.46 lbs) of cotton fiber produced, the plant also produces about 150 kg (330.69 lbs) of cottonseed. The cotton plant primarily is and has always been grown for the textile fiber (cotton) component of the plant. Consequently, the production of seed, which varies directly with cotton fiber production, is dominated by factors determining the production of cotton fiber. Cottonseed is about 15-20% of the value of the cotton crop. 

Toxaphene is an insecticide that contains over 670 chemicals and can exist as a yellow to amber solid or gas. Heavily used in the United States until 1982, its use was completely banned in 1990. Toxaphene was used primarily to control insects on cotton crops in the southern United States, it has also been used to control pests on livestock and to control unwanted fish in aquatic environments. 

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