Assessing the Diversity of Insect Pests of BT and Non BT Cotton Fields from Nalgonda District, Telangana State, India: A Comparative Overview

The main goal of this chapter was to highlight the current situation of insect pest fauna on cotton fields in Telangana's Nalgonda District that were grown with and without BT. Transgenic Bt cotton that produced one or more insecticidal proteins of Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) was planted on over 15 million hectares in 11 countries in 2009 and has contributed to a reduction of over 140 million kilograms of insecticide active ingredient between 1996 and 2008. As a highly selective form of host plant resistance, Bt cotton effectively controls a number of key lepidopteran pests and has become a cornerstone in overall integrated pest management (IPM). Understanding how pest species impact cotton output requires a thorough understanding of the insect biodiversity of the cotton environment. From July 2018 to January 2019, during the kharif cropping season, attempts were conducted to evaluate the biodiversity of insect pests on Bt and non-Bt cotton ecosystems. The results indicated that insect pests were recorded from three insect orders viz Hemiptera, Lepidoptera and Orthoptera. A total 4768 individuals insects on Bt cotton, 5232 individuals insects on Non-Bt cotton fields were recorded with help of sweep net and hand picking. Insect pests were identified with the help of Guide on cotton pests, Regional Agricultural Research Station ANGRAU Warangal and literature. Twenty-two species on Bt cotton, Thirty-one species on non-Bt cotton were identified. The result indicates that significant differences found between the Bt and non-Bt cotton fields. We concluded that Bt cotton exerts marked negative negative imapct on the abundance of insect pests. Various diversity indices were measured.