India to export cotton as pink bollworm strikes
Q. India is likely to export nearly one-fifth less cotton than previously estimated as _______ have eaten into the country output. - Published on 24 Nov 17a. Termites
b. Green Earthworms
c. Bacteria
d. Pink Bollworms
ANSWER: Pink Bollworms
India is likely to export nearly one-fifth less cotton than previously estimated as pink bollworms are set to eat into the south Asian country's output which was expected to hit a record, industry officials told Reuters.
Lower exports from the world's biggest producer will help its rivals like the US, Brazil and Australia to raise their exports to Asian buyers like Pakistan, China and Bangladesh.
Pink Bollworms- The pink bollworm (Pectinophora gossypiella), is an insect known for being a pest in cotton farming.
- The adult is a small, thin, gray moth with fringed wings. The larva is a dull white, eight-legged caterpillar with conspicuous pink banding along its dorsum.
- The larva reaches one half inch in length.
- The pink bollworm is native to Asia, but has become an invasive species in most of the world's cotton-growing regions.
- It reached the cotton belt in the southern United States by the 1920s.
- It is a major pest in the cotton fields of the southern California deserts.
- In parts of India, the pink bollworm is now resistant to first generation transgenic Bt cotton (Bollgard cotton) that expresses a single Bt gene (Cry1Ac).
- Monsanto has admitted that this variety is ineffective against the pink bollworm pest in parts of Gujarat, India.
