Use of Insect Growth Regulators and Changing Whitefly Control Costs in Arizona Cotton

Abstract

In 1996, two Insect Growth Regulators (IGRs), pyriproxyfen (Knack®) and buprofezin (Applaud®) became available to Arizona cotton growers for control of whitefly, Bemisia argentifolii under a Section 18 EPA exemption. This study makes use of a section-level database to examine (a) factors explaining IGR adoption and (b) how adopters of IGRs altered their overall insecticide use to control whiteflies. IGR adoption can be explained to a large extent by location effects. Adoption was more likely on sections where an index of whitefly susceptibility to synergized pyrethroids was low and on sections with higher whitefly control costs in the previous year. Adoption was inversely related to local population density. On sections where growers adopted IGRs, expenditures on synergized pyrethroid and other whitefly-specific tank mix applications fell by $62.52 per acre. On sections with no IGR adoption, tank mix expenditures fell less, by $44.37 per acre. On adopting sections, net costs of controlling whiteflies fell by $29.62 per acre, or by over $11,000 per farm.