SABC, Agrovision conducts experiment of mating disruption tech

The South Asia Biotechnology Centre (SABC), Jodhpur in collaboration with Agrovision Foundation, Nagpur has laid out the country’s largest field experiment of an innovative mating disruption or mating confusion technology spread over 300 acres in four clusters to ward off Pest Pink Bollworm (PBW) in cotton in Waroda and Adasa villages in Kalmeshwar Taluka in Nagpur District of Maharashtra. Pbknot is an innovative mating disruption technology, approved recently by Central Insecticide Board and Registration Committee (CIBRC) of the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfares of the Government of India is an ideal approach for effective PBW management and a best fit in integrated pest management (IPM) of bollworm management in cotton. Moreover, Pbknot technology is easy to use, safe to beneficial insects and eco-friendly. A first-ofits-kind field experiment laid out over 300 acres in four clusters in GPS coordinated cotton fields with the structured tagging of Pbknot thread by trained local volunteers under the guidance of experts from SABC, Agrovision Foundation and ICAR-CICR will be studied for pest insect population dynamics, insect ecology and damage as part of an IPM approach of pink bollworm.