PERCEPTIONS OF TEXAS FARMERS AND PEST-MANAGEMENT ADVISERS OF INTEGRATED PEST-MANAGEMENT OF SORGHUM INSECT PESTS

Questionnaires mailed to farmers and pest management advisors in five Texas Lower Coastal Bend counties were used to assess attitudes and pr actices regarding integrated pest management, including sampling, for insect pests of sorghum, Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench. Survey responden ts represented about 16% of the farms and 22% of the sorghum hectares in the area and all pest management advisors. Sorghum midge was consid ered by all respondents to be the most serious sorghum insect pest and the most difficult to sample and control. Most farmers (92%) made use of multiple insect management methods other than just insecticides. M ore farmers (61-70%) and Extension IPM agents (71-86%) than private ag ricultural advisors (28-44%) followed Texas Agricultural Extension Ser vice guidelines for economic thresholds of sorghum midge, Contarinia s orghicola (Coquillett), corn earworm, Helicoverpa zea (Boddie), and ri ce stink bug, Oebalus pugnax (F.). Age, size of farm, yield, education , or percentage of off-farm income did not differ among farmers that u sed economic thresholds and those that did not. Farmers, more than pes t management advisors, believed the recommended economic threshold for sorghum midge was reliable. Uncertainty about their ability to accura tely sample these insects was the reason some farmers did not use econ omic thresholds. Pest management advisors most frequently cited distru st of recommended economic thresholds as the reason for not using them . The average time farmers and pest management advisors were willing t o spend inspecting a 16-ha field of sorghum for insect pests, given a suspected infestation, was about 20 min. Both groups thought field ins pections provided correct estimates of insect pest abundance 90% of th e time and -that samples should provide estimates of insect pest abund ance within 10% of the true abundance.