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Student 10-Minute Paper

Plant-Insect Ecosystems

Student Competition

Student

Grad Competition P-IE: IPM - Field Crops 3

Impact of Frankliniella fusca herbivory on ThryvOn Bt cotton root growth

Monday, November 6, 2023
11:06 AM – 11:18 AM ET
Location: Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center, Potomac C
In-Person Student Competition
Frankliniella fusca (tobacco thrips) is one of the most economically important insect pests of cotton in the USA today. Typically, growers use seed or foliar-applied chemical insecticides to reduce F. fusca numbers. However, use of the new and only transgenic cotton (ThryvOn) has been shown to be efficient in controlling F. fusca damaging populations, which might also benefit stress tolerance of cotton plants. In previous studies we have observed that higher thrips infestations are linked to a reduction of cotton root development, and thus, there is a need of better understanding the relationship between ThryvOn, thrips infestation level, cotton root development and stress tolerance. Greenhouse experiments were conducted using both ThryvOn and non-Bt cotton (DP1646) with different densities of adult F. fusca for 10 days, while controls were not infested. Cotton seedlings were infested at varying ages with a predetermined density of adult female F. fusca. Our results revealed that root development is reduced with high thrips infestation. Therefore, ThryvOn cotton has higher plant vigor and is more stress tolerant, which might contribute to a higher cotton yield.