Development of A Combined Insect Trap for Whitefly (bemisia Tabaci) And Tomato Leaf Miner (tuta Absoluta) Management

Abstract

Whitefly Bemisia tabaci and tomato leaf miner Tuta absoluta are two important insects that are causing serious damage to crops in protected vegetable cultivation. There is an international call from scientists to find a non-chemical way to manage those pests. This study tested the effect of a new combined light trap with different colors, named GLT trap, on the management of whiteflies and tomato leaf miners in protected vegetable cultivation. The results showed that whiteflies are significantly attracted to the yellow light traps (828 insects) compared to (73 insects) on white traps which captured the least number of insects. Although whitefly is diurnal, a higher number of insects were captured by the yellow-light colored traps (910 insects) than both yellow traps without light (302 insects) and light without color (51 insects) in 6 days. This showed the superiority of GLT trap over the yellow traps by about three times and about 20 times more than light traps without colors. In addition, a higher mean number of leaf miners were captured by yellow traps (14.33), and the lowest number of insects (3.5) was captured on violate traps. The new GLT trap is a promising IPM mean to manage those important insects in greenhouses in both developed and developing countries. It is an inexpensive, effective, and homemade way to control whiteflies and tomato leaf miners without negative consequences