WHITE FLY (Bemicia tabaci) IN CROPS AND FLOWERS

Fuente: U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Bemicia tabaci (Gennadius, 1889), commonly known as whitefly is a species of the hemiptera, widely distributed worldwide, which feeds on horticultural crops and ornamental plants, causing significant economic losses. It is thought to have its origin in the African continent or in the area of ​​India and Pakistan (Brown et al., 1995).

The eggs are yellow and depending on the variety of the host in question, are covered by a dusty discharge. They can be placed individually or in groups, in the latter case, places them in a spiral or circumferential shape on the underside of the leaves.

It is a polyphagous species, which has been described on numerous crops, causing both direct and indirect damage. Among the direct damages, two main ones stand out: loss of vigor of the plant, as a consequence of the absorption of the phloem sap, which causes a decrease in yields of the productions and the reduction of the photosynthetic area, as a consequence of The secretion of molasses on the leave surface, which favors the appearance of fungi, namely Capnodium spp. Among the indirect damages, the transmission of pathogenic viruses that cause major damage to crops, especially the so-called Yellow Tomato Curing Virus (TULCV), is particularly noteworthy, affecting mainly tomatoes.

B. tabaci goes through different stages of development: egg, four nymphal and adult stages, its reproduction may be bisexual or parthenogenetic of the arrenotoca type (Horowitz and Gerling, 1992; Perring et al., 1993).

For the biological control of this polyphagous pest, there are numerous natural predators, including the genus Encarisia formosa, Eretmocerus mundus, Eretmocerus eremiculs, Amblyseius swirskii, Cryptolaemus monttrouzieri, Orius albidipennis, Orius laevigatus, Macolophus caliginosus and Nesidiocoris tenuis.

From BIONA we recommend for the treatment of the white fly the application of BIONA ENHANCER, which has a high wetting power, especially recommended for cleaning and disinfecting the remains of grease and molasses of biological organisms and BIONA OLISAN, insecticide that creates a protective film on the vegetal surface and the fruit, preventing the attack of the pest.