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Title: BEMISIA TABACI (HOMOPTERA: ALEYRODIDAE) BIOTYPES IN INDIA

Author
item LISHA, V - TRIVANDRUM, INDIA
item ANTONY, B - TRIVANDRUM, INDIA
item PALANISWAMI, M - TRIVANDRUM, INDIA
item HENNEBERRY, THOMAS

Submitted to: Journal of Economic Entomology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 9/28/2002
Publication Date: 5/1/2003
Citation: LISHA, V.S., ANTONY, B., PALANISWAMI, M.S., HENNEBERRY, T.J. BEMISIA TABACI (HOMOPTERA: ALEYRODIDAE) BIOTYPES IN INDIA. JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY. 2003. v. 96(2): 322-327.

Interpretive Summary: Cotton and cassava are important to economic income and major food crops in many parts of the world. Both crops are hosts for sweetpotato whiteflies and are grown in the same ecosystem. Our studies showed that even though the whiteflies from cotton and cassava are indistinguishable in appearance, there are important differences. Sweetpotato whiteflies from cotton do not reproduce on cassava and sweetpotato whitefly from cassava do not reproduce on cotton. The cassava whitefly, but not the cotton whitefly, acquires and transmits to cassava Mosaic Virus from diseased to healthy cassava. In addition, there are important genetic differences between the two biotypes. Identification of the biotypes is an important finding that must be considered in multi-cropping management systems.

Technical Abstract: Host plant performance, esterase, and virus transmission tests revealed cassava-strain and sweetpotato-strain populations of whitefly Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius) biotypes in India. Individuals from the sweetpotato-reared population did not breed on cassava, Manihot esculenta Crantz, and the cassava-strain-reared individuals failed to develop on sweetpotato, Ipomoea batatus (L.) Lam. Eggplant, Solanum melongena L., and tobacco, Nicotiana tabacum L., were common hosts for both biotypes. The cassava-strain whiteflies but not the sweetpotato-reared whiteflies successfully transmitted cassava mosaic virus from disease-infected cassava seedlings to healthy cassava seedlings. Presence of biotypes in B. tabaci is reported for the first time from India.