Planting date (PD) and variety for cotton (Ct) with sorghum trap crops, control cotton, and sorghum (So) in 20. Row width was 0.91вЂ‰m for each crop, and rows for each crop were parallel to each other. Recommended agricultural practices for production of sorghum and cotton were followed. Six cotton fields, ranging from 5 to 18вЂ‰ha in size, were sampled each year, 20, in Irwin County GA (Table 1). Within the grain sorghum, Coccinellidae were not only sampled on plants but also from yellow pyramid traps that predominantly served in the larger pest management scheme to kill stink bugs in sorghum. Two treatments were used: (1) cotton fields without sorghum and (2) cotton fields bordered on one side by a strip of grain sorghum. The objective of this study was to document the impact of a grain sorghum trap crop on the density of Coccinellidae on nearby cotton. These same species colonize cotton, and their presence within a grain sorghum trap crop may lead to these predators moving into cotton and facilitating insect pest management. parenthesis (Say), Coccinella septempunctata L., Coleomegilla maculata (De Geer), Cycloneda munda (Say), Scymnus spp., Olla v-nigrum (Mulsant), Exochomus sp., and Psyllobora vigintimaculata (Say). In fact, many species of Coccinellidae are commonly found inhabiting grain sorghum: Harmonia axyridis (Pallas), Hippodamia convergens GuГ©rin-MГ©neville, H. Thus, grain sorghum, when planted adjacent to cotton, can perform as a trap crop for stink bugs and possibly as a source of natural enemies moving into cotton.

Additionally, a grain sorghum trap crop is beneficial to natural enemies by hosting the corn leaf aphid and greenbug. As part of a larger pest management strategy, strips of grain sorghum planted between a source crop and cotton have proved useful as a trap crop to reduce pest movement, especially stink bugs (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae), into cotton. In the southeastern USA, cotton fields commonly are closely associated with other agronomic crops, especially corn ( Zea mays L.) and peanut ( Arachis hypogea L.), and in these farmscapes polyphagous pest species are known to move from corn and peanut into cotton to find newly available, suitable food, or oviposition sites. Lady beetles (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) have a significant impact on aphids (Hemiptera: Aphididae), including the cotton aphid ( Aphis gossypii Glover) attacking cotton ( Gossypium hirsutum L.) and the corn leaf aphid ( Rhopalosiphum maidis (Fitch) and greenbug ( Schizaphis graminum (Rondani) attacking grain sorghum ( Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench spp. Our results indicate that sorghum was a source of lady beetles in cotton, and thus incorporation of a sorghum habitat in farmscapes with cotton has great potential to enhance biocontrol of insect pests in cotton. For both years, density of lady beetles generally was higher on cotton with sorghum than on control cotton. Lady beetle compositions in sorghum and cotton and in yellow pyramidal traps were similar. Scymnus spp., Coccinella septempunctata (L.), Hippodamia convergens GuГ©rin-MГ©neville, Harmonia axyridis (Pallas), Coleomegilla maculata (De Geer), Cycloneda munda (Say), and Olla v-nigrum (Mulsant) were found in sorghum over both years.

The objective of this 2вЂ‰yr on-farm study was to document the impact of a grain sorghum trap crop on the density of Coccinellidae on nearby cotton. Lady beetles (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) prey on insect pests in cotton.

Coccinella septempunctata habitat