Major Pests of Cotton :: Cotton Bollworms

Cotton bollworms are the most destructive group of insects found on cotton in all cotton growing areas of the world. There are three kinds of bollworms, viz., spotted bollworm, green bollworm and pink bollworm. Among the three, the spotted bollworm occurs early, when the plant is 15-20 cm height and continues to feed on shoot. The other two occur from square formation stage, and pink bollworm continues till picking of kapas and goes even to ginning mills.

1. Spotted bollworms Earias vittella & E. insulana Noctuidae Lepidoptera 2. American bollworm/ Green bollworm Helicoverpa armigera Noctuidae Lepidoptera 3. Cotton pink bollworm Pectinophora gossypiella Gelechiidae Lepidoptera