author(s)
DU Gosavi, BV Bhede, AG Badgujar and RB Ambad

abstract
The field experiment was conducted in Kharif season of 2018-19 at Department of Agricultural Entomology, V.N.M.K.V. Parbhani (M.S.), India to evaluate proper crop stage and insecticide for management of pink bollworm on cotton. The experiment was laid out using spilt plot design with 3 replications. The main plots were crop stages viz. Square formation (A₁), Flower formation (A₂) Boll formation (A₃) and Boll development (A₄) whereas, sub plots were insecticides viz. Azadirachtin 3000 ppm (B₁), Profenophos 50 EC (B₂), Lambda-cyhalothrin 5 EC (B₃), Chlorantraniliprole 18.5 SC (B₄), Profenofos 40 + Cypermethrin 4 EC (B₅). The data on rosette flowers, green boll damage, open boll damage, locule damage and seed cotton yield revealed that the most effective insecticide against pink bollworm was lambda-cyhalothrin 5 EC and followed by profenofos 40 + cypermethrin 4 EC, profenofos 50 EC and chlorantraniliprole 18.5 SC. The proper crop stage for spraying was boll formation followed by flower formation, square formation and boll development stage.