Natural enemies of whitefly, Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius) on cotton in Punjab, India

Abstract

The whitefly, Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius) is a polyphagous pest, widely distributed in diverse agroecosystems across the globe. Several bioagents including predators and parasitoids from diverse groups have been recorded against whitefly worldwide. A field survey was conducted during 2016 and 2017 in different cotton growing districts of Punjab to record the natural enemies associated with whitefly. Sixteen species of natural enemies were recorded, including 7 species of insect predators; 2 species of parasitoids and 7 species of spiders. Coccinella septempunctata Linneaus, Cheilomenes sexmaculata (Fabricius) and Brumoides suturalis (Fabricius), Serangium parcesetosum Sicard, Chrysoperla zastrowi sillemi (Esben-Peterson), Zanchius breviceps (Wagner), Geocoris sp. and spiders were most commonly recorded predators. Out of these, Chrysoperla was the predominant species. Encarsia lutea (Masi) and Encarsia sophia (Girault & Dodd) were the two parasitoids that emerged from whitefly pupae. The mean parasitization of whitefly by Encarsia spp. in different cotton growing areas of Punjab was 5.20 per cent (range = 1.5 to 9.1 %).