Ecology, Environment and Conservation Paper

DEVELOPMENT OF THE BIOLOGICAL METHOD OF PROTECTING COTTON FROM PESTS IN SOUTH KAZAKHSTAN

Karlygash Azirbekovna Alpysbayeva, Abai Orazovich Sagitov, Bakhytzhan Alisherovich Duisembekov and Aizhan Mukashevna Chadinova

Abstract

Cotton is the leading technical and priority culture in the South of the country; today it is cultivated in the area of 100 to 120 thousand hectares. Since 2005, the goal has been to actively use the cluster approach in production and processing of cotton fiber. Recently in Kazakhstan, the yield of raw cotton has been 22-23 hw/ha, the aim is increasing it by 30-40% while improving the quality of cotton fiber, which will increase competitiveness of goods made of cotton fiber, oil in the foreign and domestic markets. Cotton is protected from pests in South Kazakhstan mainly through the use of the chemical method, despite the fact that the region is densely populated, where issues of social and environmental security are particularly acute. In particular, this is the case in the Maktaaral district, where about 100 thousand hectares of cotton are cultivated. The release of biological agents contributed to declining the pesticide press on plants, ensured significant improvement of the environment; and retarded development of phytophags down to economically imperceptible values has been noted. In the fields where biological agents had been released, in 2012 farms collected a high enough yield of raw cotton, which amounted to 35 hw from each hectare. After 3-4 releases of braconentomophage to fight larvae of cotton bollworm, biological efficiency was at the level of 73-80.4%.