Characterization of Boll Damage Potential of Lygus hesperus and Its Relevance in Pest Management

The crop damage potential of insect pests differs among the various species, developmental stages, and also the quality of the host plant. Characterization of pest species-specific, age-specific, and crop plant phenology-specific damage potentials are critical for making better pest management decisions. Because Lygus hesperus are primarily a mid-late season cotton pest in our region, we focused our study in assessing the damage potential of Lygus adults and nymphs on cotton bolls under a wide range of boll developmental stages. Cotton bolls from 1 to 20 day old were used to quantify the external injury, internal injury, and seed damage potential of Lygus hesperus nymphs or adults. Development of prediction tools for Lygus damage in field situations will improve our pest management decisions. The research progress towards development of a cotton boll damage prediction model for Lygus will be discussed.