Jodhpur based South Asia Biotechnology Centre (SABC) is implementing a largescale “Project Bandhan” to control the spread of pink bollworm (PBW) in cotton across 16 districts of seven major cotton growing States this kharif.
Key highlights
- Project Bandhan will be implemented in some 19 clusters each over 62.5 acres covering a total area of 1,200 acres across the country.
- Steps such as mating disruption and pheromone traps are being taken to tackle the dreaded pest.
- Mating disruption is an innovative pheromone based technique that interferes with the reproductive cycle of PBW in such a way that the population is significantly reduced and crop damage is minimised.
- The Central Insecticide Board and Registration Committee (CIBRC) had approved the technology in the integrated pest management (IPM) strategies for controlling PBW in India for the first time in 201920.
- As part of this, CICR and the other players have come out with PBKnot, a solid metric dispenser rope which can be easily tagged to the cotton plants.
- The PBKnot charges the surrounding air with Gossyplure, a pheromone scent that confuses the male adults preventing them from finding and mating with female adults and reducing the number of eggs laid and controlling the PBW population.
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