The bilateral areawide pink bollworm eradication program, which is designed to eliminate the pink bollworm (PBW), Pectinophora gossypiella (Saunders), from all cotton-producing areas of the United States and adjacent areas of northern Mexico, completed a successful 2005 season in Phase I. This first phase of the program includes the El Paso/Trans Pecos area of Texas (EPTP), South Central New Mexico (SCNM), and Chihuahua, Mexico.

The 2005 program was highly effective in reducing the overall PBW population to levels below economic significance in all three regions. The current trapping data indicate that PBW adults were reduced by over 91 percent in EPTP, 98 percent in SCNM, and 96 percent in Chihuahua in 2005, when compared with 2004. When compared to 2001, the current PBW adult population has been reduced by over 99 percent in all three areas.

This report provides a summary of the 2005 PBW eradication program in West Texas, South Central New Mexico, and Chihuahua, Mexico, and 2006 expansion plans into eastern and central Arizona.