History of Entomology Research in the Texas Rolling Plains      

  An entomology research program was established in the Texas Rolling Plains in 1971 at the Experiment Station at Munday.  Initial efforts were focused on pests of vegetables and guar.  The guar midge was the principle insect investigated in guar research, while the vegetable insect research was directed towards pests of cabbage, potatoes, tomatoes, and onions.

In 1973 the entomology program was moved from Munday to the Texas Agricultural Research and Extension Center at Vernon, and the entomology program was re-directed to cotton insects, with an emphasis on the boll weevil.  With termination of guar and vegetable insect research in 1980, a project on small grains insects was initiated.  Initial research efforts were directed to the greenbug, but when the Russian wheat aphid became a serious threat to Texas wheat production in the mid-1980's, the emphasis shifted to this new pest.  The small grains insects research program was terminated in 1990.

The entomology program on rangeland insects was developed upon termination of the small grains insect project.  Initial research concentrated on grasshoppers in mesquite and juniper habitats, but because the biting fly Tabanus abactor is such a serious pest on cattle in the region, research emphasis shifted to this fly from 1994 - 2003.  Research on bruchid beetles attacking mesquite seeds was initiated in 1998 to investigate the potential of these beetles as biological control agents of mesquite seed.

Although there have been a multitude of entomology projects, research on cotton insects has remained the primary objective.  Major insects studied include the boll weevil, the bollworm/tobacco budworm complex, and cotton aphids.  Thrips, cotton fleahoppers, and bandedwinged whiteflies have been investigated also.  The primary areas of research emphasis on these cotton pests have been:

a.  boll weevil - development of cultural control strategies including overwinter habitat management, planting date, the role of bed shape and row spacing/direction, and fall crop termination; the potential of Bracon mellitor for biological control; sampling; treatment thresholds, insecticide evaluations, survival in various types of winter habitats; and economics of various management strategies.  The boll weevil eradication program has essentially eliminated the boll weevil in the Texas Rolling Plains, and research on this pest was discontinued after 1997.

b.  bollworm/tobacco budworm - irrigation timing for management, biological control, pheromone trapping, insecticide evaluations and application technologies.

c.  cotton aphid - population dynamics, planting dates, irrigation termination dates, nitrogen fertility levels, and aphid honeydew (sugar) contamination of lint at harvest.

d.  thrips, cotton fleahoppers, and bandedwinged whitefly - effect of planting date, and sugar composition of whitefly honeydew.