Within-plant distribution and infestation pattern of the B- and Q-Biotypes of the whitefly, Bemisia tabaci (Homoptera: Aleyrodidae) on tomato and pepper plants

The vertical distribution of the B- and Q-biotype adults of Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius) on tomato (Lycopersicum esculentum Mill) was determined in choice assays under greenhouse conditions. Adults were significantly more abundant on the middle stratum of the plants than in the bottom or top strata. I...

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Bibliographic Details
Authors: Muñiz, Mariano, Nombela, Gloria, Barrios, Laura
Format: article
Publication Date:2002
Country:España
Institution:Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
Repository:DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
OAI Identifier:oai:digital.csic.es:10261/11483
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10261/11483
Access Level:Open access
Keyword:Bemisia tabaci
vertical distribution
infestation capacity
pepper, tomato
Description
Summary:The vertical distribution of the B- and Q-biotype adults of Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius) on tomato (Lycopersicum esculentum Mill) was determined in choice assays under greenhouse conditions. Adults were significantly more abundant on the middle stratum of the plants than in the bottom or top strata. Infestation pattern of B- and Q-biotypes of B. tabaci on tomato and pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) also was tested by means of choice assays. The relationship between the proportion of infested plants (p) and the mean density of B- and Q-biotype adults (x) was estimated by the linear function z = - mx, where z = ln(1- p). Numbers of Q-biotype adults observed on the plants were higher than those of B biotype, although the estimated number of Q whiteflies needed to infest 95% of plants was nearly 1.3-fold the estimated number of B whiteflies.