Whitefly control

Dear farmers,

                          Whitefly is a major pest these days all over the world. It causes the damage to all major crops like cotton, sugarcane etc cash crop and variety of other different crops like beans, cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, cucumber, eggplant, peppers, , tomamelon, squash, tomato and watermelon. They also infest crop such as alfalfa. The main hazard of whitefly is that it transmitts various viruses from plant to plant while feeding. Hence it is also called as vector.

                   Whitefly is a sucking type pest on the crops. It sucks the nutrients from phloem of the susceptible plant leaves occasionally leading to the curling and drying of the leaves which altimately causes death of plant.

Prevention of whitefly

               Though whitefly is impossible to prevent from emerging in the field, following measures would definitely reduce it's population in the field.

1). During early vegetative growth phase of crop, avoid excessive use of urea.

2). Destroy ratoon plants as well as weed hosts growing near the irrigation channel and fallow lands.

3). Monitor whitefly on alternate hosts such as vegetables, ornamentals, weeds and plantation crops starting from pre-sowing.

4). Maintain field sanitation by keeping fields, bunds, and the vicinity free of weeds before and after sowing of cotton.

5). Install yellow sticky traps 20/ha during July to August.

6). Vacuum suction pumps can be used during August coinciding with high whitefly population.

7). Avoid using synthetic pyrethroids or organophosphate or any other insecticide mixture. These insecticides are known to cause and aggravate resurgence of whitefly when used indiscriminately.

Chemical control

Following are some recommended insecticide spray.

Diafenthiuron 50% WP, Buprofezin 25% SC, Spiromesifen 22.9% SC, Pyriproxyfen 10% EC, Flonicamid 50% WG, Clothianidian 50% WDG after mid August. These insecticides are effective on whitefly and are relatively safer to its natural enemies.

Biological control of whitefly

Variety of insects are found to be effective biological control agents against whitefly. They are discussed as below.

1) Six spotted lady bird beetle Cheilomenes sixmaculata

Six spotted lady bird beetle general predator of cotton whitefly. The predator helps to reduce pest's population naturally.

2). Predatory spiders

Spiders kill large number of insects for feeding. Spiders also kill whitefly

Recommended biopesticide 

Beauveria bassiana (fungus) is the recommended biopesticide against whitefly (Foliar application).