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Title: BEMISIA TABACI (HOMOPTERA: ALEYRODIDAE) BIOYTPE B COLONIZATION AND LEAF MORPHOLOGY RELATIONSHIPS IN UPLAND COTTON CULTIVARS

Author
item CHU, CHANG CHI
item COHEN, ALLEN
item NATWICK, ERIC - UNIV OF CA COOP EXT, CA
item SIMMONS, GREGORY - USDA-APHIS, BRAWLEY, CA
item HENNEBERRY, THOMAS

Submitted to: Australian Journal of Entomology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 3/23/1999
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: Silverleaf whitefly (= sweetpotato whitefly B strain) has been an economic pest of cotton hundreds of other cultivated crops since 1991. Loss of crop values in the United States has been in the millions each year. Achievements have been great in research and development, yet its control still relies on chemical application. A long term but better approach would be the breeding of whitefly resistant cotton varieties. In this report, we suggest two genetic traits for cotton breeding: okra-leaf and depth of leaf veins. The okra-leaf advantage over normal-leaf variety was demonstrated in five Australian varieties that had fewer whiteflies compared with eight Deltapline varieties. Of the 14 varieties tested in 1996, 13 of them showed a significantly negative relationship between whitefly densities and depth of minor veins measured from lower leaf surface.

Technical Abstract: Upland cotton, Gossypium hirsutum L., cultivars are widely grown throughout the world for fiber production. They are also good reproductive hosts for Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius) biotype B. We studied the relationships between cotton leaf morphology and whitefly population densities in eight United States Deltapine and six Australian cotton cultivars and breeding lines at Holtville, CA in 1996. Results showed that okra-leaf cultivars and lines were colonized with fewer whitefly adults, eggs and nymphs compared to normal-leaf cultivars. The distance from underleaf surfaces of cotton leaves to the centers of nearest minor vascular bundles was negatively correlated with whitefly adult, egg and nymphal densities on leaves for all genotypes with exception of the Australian breeding line 89013-114. Our results suggest that okra-leaf and distance from underleaf surfaces to the center of nearest minor vascular bundles of cotton leaves are genetic traits that have potential for breeding whitefly resistant upland cotton cultivars.