Feeding Preference of Tobacco Whitefly on Some Solanaceae Family Plants and the Effect of Growth Regulators Salicylic Acid and Paclobutrazol in Reducing Infection

Abstract

Adults of the tobacco whitefly, Bemisia tabaci Gen, preferred to lay eggs primarily on the leaves of the tomato plant, followed by the eggplant plant, and then, to a lesser extent, the pepper plant. The averages were 1.96, 1.48, and 1.24 eggs/cm2, respectively. The tomato plant was significantly superior to the eggplant and pepper plant in the number of existing nymphs. On the leaves, while the eggplant plant was significantly superior to the pepper plant, which recorded the lowest number of nymphs, and the averages were 2.12, 0.88, and 0.27 nymphs/cm2. Plant growth regulators showed an effective role in reducing the number of different stages of the insect indirectly by improving many of the structural and chemical characteristics of the plant, as the treatment of plants with paclobutrazol and salicylic acid at a concentration of 200 PPM contributed to reducing the number of eggs by 61.55 and 57.49%, respectively. Also, the number of nymphs on leaves decreased by 65.09 and 68.54%, respectively.