Journal of Scientific Research and Reports

The off-season activity of male moths of cotton pink bollworm was studied at Research Farm, NAU, Surat and five ginneries through installing pheromone traps during January to June 2022 in South Gujarat. The activity of male moths of pink bollworm were observed throughout the year (January to December 2022) at Research Farm and was more pronounced during 1st to 13th Standard Meteorological Weeks (SMW) and 38th to 51st SMW coinciding with the fruiting stages of the crops in the field and less pronounced (<8 male moths/trap) when crops unavailable in the fields. The moth activity showed significant positive correlation with sunshine hour and negative correlations with minimum and average temperature; morning and average relative humidity and rainy days. In five ginneries, male moth activity varied considerably during off-season. At ginning mill, Olpad, Surat, the activity was noticed from 1st to 16th SMW with peak in 8^th SMW (av.8 moths/trap). In Bharuch districts, the trap catches were observed from 1st to 16th SMW being peak in 7^th SMW (av. 14 moths/trap) at ginning mill, Hansot, whereas it was observed from 1st to 21st SMW and 1st to 24th SMW at Sikhar and Laheri ginning mills, respectively being peak in 7^th SMW (av. 14 moths/trap). At Vipul ginning mill, Karjan, the trap catches were noticed from 1st to 23rd SMW and peak during 7^th SMW (av. 12 moths/trap). The previous and fresh stock supply of raw seed cotton at ginneries was initiated from October and actual ginning process started in the November or December depending on the optimum stock. The overall infestation to seeds was found 7.41, 9.21, 11.38, 14.79 and 11.62 per cent at respective ginneries. Infested seeds were found more in North (13.79%) than other three directions (8.67 to 11.96%) in the heap of seeds. Live larvae/pupae were recovered more from single seeds (8.6 larvae) than in double seeds (4.7 larvae/pupae) indicating advancement of generation rather to enter in diapausing stage in double seeds.