Cotton Pink Bollworm
Pectinophora gossypiella
📖 Description
Cotton Pink Bollworm (PBW) is one of the most destructive pests of cotton across the Indian subcontinent, causing 30-90% yield loss and severely reducing lint quality. The pest has emerged as a major threat even to Bt cotton in India, particularly in Gujarat, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and Punjab, due to resistance development. Female moths lay eggs on cotton buds, flowers, and young bolls. Newly hatched larvae bore directly into bolls, where they feed internally on lint and seeds for 2-3 weeks. Internal feeding protects larvae from contact insecticides and Bt toxins (in some Bt cotton varieties). Pupation occurs inside the boll or in soil. Diapausing larvae survive in cotton stalks and seeds for months, making stalk destruction essential to prevent carryover between seasons. The pest has 4-6 overlapping generations per cotton season.
⚠️ Symptoms to watch for
- Rosette flowers (petals twisted together), bore holes on green bolls with frass, discolored and stained lint, damaged seeds with reduced oil content, premature boll opening, 'cut-out' bolls with webbing inside, yield loss 30-90%, also damages Bt cotton in some regions
🩹 Treatment
- Install pheromone traps @ 8/ha for monitoring and mass trapping, release Trichogramma bactrae @ 50,000/ha, apply recommended insecticides at egg-laying stage, destroy infested crop residues after harvest, prevent carryover through clean cultivation
🌿 Organic treatments
- Install pheromone traps @ 8/ha, release Trichogramma bactrae @ 50,000/ha weekly at flowering, spray Bacillus thuringiensis @ 2 g/L, apply Helicoverpa NPV @ 250 LE/ha, apply neem oil 5 ml/L, destroy infested crop residues and stalks after harvest, grow trap crops of okra around cotton
🧪 Chemical treatments
- Chlorantraniliprole 18.5 SC @ 0.3 ml/L, Emamectin benzoate 5 SG @ 0.5 g/L, Spinosad 45 SC @ 0.5 ml/L, Indoxacarb 14.5 SC @ 1 ml/L, Lambda-cyhalothrin 5 EC @ 1 ml/L (spray at egg-laying or early larval stage before boll entry)
🛡️ Prevention
- Destroy cotton stalks and crop residues immediately after harvest to break cycle, install pheromone traps early, release Trichogramma preventively, plant early-maturing varieties, avoid continuous cotton cultivation, harvest promptly at maturity, use Bt cotton judiciously (rotate with non-Bt refuge), inspect bolls weekly for early detection
🪴 Affected plants
- Cotton (Primary), Okra (Bhendi), Hollyhock, Some Malvaceae
🦋 Natural predators
- Trichogramma bactrae, Chrysoperla carnea, Reduviid Bugs, Spiders, Birds
🌱 Host plants
- Gossypium spp., Abelmoschus esculentus, Althaea rosea
🔄 Lifecycle
- Female lays 200-500 eggs singly or in small groups on buds, flowers, and bolls.
- Eggs hatch in 4-7 days.
- Larvae feed inside bolls for 14-25 days, passing through 4 instars.
- Pupation occurs in the boll or soil, lasting 8-12 days.
- Adults live 7-15 days.
- Diapausing larvae can survive 6-8 months in stalks or seeds.
- Total life cycle 25-40 days; 4-6 generations per cotton season.
📅 Season
- Active Aug-Jan on cotton, peak Sep-Dec during boll formation
🔎 Appearance
- Adults are small, brownish moths with darker markings on the forewings.
- Larvae are distinctive pinkish-white caterpillars with a brown head, growing up to 15 mm, found inside cotton bolls.
- Full-grown larvae have a characteristic pink or rose color on the underside.
💥 Damage level
- Severe
🔁 Reproduction rate
- Fast
🗺️ Geographic regions
- Indian Subcontinent
- Africa
- Southeast Asia
- Worldwide Cotton-Growing Regions
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