UGA Cooperative Extension is a collaboration between UGA CAES and UGA FACS.
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Our Impact
Stink bugs feed on developing cotton bolls, which results in reduced yield and fiber quality. Since the elimination of the boll weevil as an economic pest and the commercialization of transgenic Bt cotton, stink bugs have been the primary insect pest targeted by foliar insecticides in Georgia cotton. UGA entomologists participated in a regional project with entomologists from southeastern cotton producing states to improve stink bug management in cotton. Beginning in 2006, they began evaluating a dynamic threshold that takes into account the varying degree of plant susceptibility or the number of susceptible bolls present during a given plant growth stage. Although yields were slightly lower in threshold treatments compared with the aggressively protected treatment, net returns increased. Research and threshold verification trials conducted in Georgia have demonstrated that net returns using a dynamic threshold may be increased by $19 per acre compared with previously recommended stink bug management programs.
