Population Dynamics of Thrips on Transgenic and Non-Transgenic Cultivars of Cotton

Abstract

The present study was performed to evaluate the performance of Bt and Non-Bt cotton cultivars in response to population fluctuation of thrips in field under RCBD. On the numerical basis results revealed that transgenic cultivars were more susceptible to thrips infestation as compared to conventional genotypes. The pooled comparison of thrips/leaf on different tested cotton cultivars revealed highly significant variations. The results showed that the highest population was observed on IR-901 and FH-113 (3.11 and 3.14 thrips/leaf, respectively) followed by N-121 (2.79 thrips/leaf) and FH-154 (2.78 thrips/leaf). While low level of infestation was observed on CIM-496 and FH-941 (2.20 and 2.18 thrips/leaf, respectively) followed by FH-1000 (2.29 thrips/leaf), FH-207 (2.31 thrips/leaf) and FH-4243 (2.40 thrips/leaf). When data were statistically analyzed thrips population on Bt and non Bt cultivars revealed that Bt cotton cultivars had higher level of thrips population (3.8 thrips/leaf) compared to non Bt cultivars (2.7 thrips/leaf).