Cotton Agriculture -- Southern United States application of
pesticides to cotton (Gossypium hirsutum) is an important issue
that affects the water quality of the southern United States.
Cotton receives as much as 7 kilograms per hectare of herbicide
and 5 kilograms per hectare of insecticide (Gianessi and Puffer,
1990). The heavy application of pesticides is required,
especially in the humid south where weed pressure is great and
the boll weevil (Anthonomus grandis) is a major insect pest.
These applications of pesticides are 3 to 5 times greater per
hectare than applications of pesticides to corn, yet there have
been no regional studies of pesticide fate in the cotton belt.
The cotton belt includes the states of Arkansas, Louisiana,
Mississippi, Texas, Arizona, and California. Lesser amounts of
cotton are grown in the states of North and South Carolina,
Georgia, Alabama, and New Mexico. These eleven states make up an
area known as the "cotton belt." There are five "hot spots" of
cotton production: the Missis