Abstract
AbstractBemisia tabaci is one of the most threatening pests in agriculture, particularly in Solanaceous crops such as tomato and pepper that are cultivated in the open field. Pesticide application is often not effective and hazardous to humans and environment. The exploitation of plant natural defenses that are present in wild relatives of tomato, may offer a solution. To evaluate resistance parameters and to identify plant material with high levels of resistance, we screened a number of accessions of tomato wild relatives using three methods; a free-choice test in a screenhouse in Indonesia, a no-choice test with clip-on cages in a greenhouse and a leaf disc test in a climate-room in the Netherlands. Antibiosis resulting in low adult survival was the major component for resistance in tomato. However, other resistance component(s) may play a role as well. In some accessions there was a change in the resistance level over time. Several resistance parameters used in the different tests were well correlated. The best resistance source was an accession of Solanum galapagense, which had not been identified as being resistant in the past. This is of particular interest as this species is closely related to the cultivated tomato, which may facilitate introgression of the resistance component(s). Whitefly non-preference and resistance were associated with the presence of type IV trichomes. Other mechanisms might be involved since some accessions without type IV trichomes showed low nymphal density. The leaf disc test is a good in vitro alternative for the clip-on cage whitefly resistance screening, as shown by the high correlation between the results obtained with this test and the clip-on cage test. This offers breeders the possibility to carry out tests more efficiently.
Highlights
Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius) is one of the most important pests in agricultural crops worldwide
Density was moderately correlated with egg and nymphal density, whereas, egg and nymphal density had a high correlation
The number of adults decreased sharply over time for S. arcanum CGN14355 and S. lycopersicum EWSI24294, whereas, the number of adults increased on most S. habrochaites and S. pimpinellifolium accessions
Summary
Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius) is one of the most important pests in agricultural crops worldwide. This whitefly is responsible for large reductions in crop yield and quality. Bemisia tabaci causes direct damage by feeding on the phloem sap and it produces honeydew on which sooty molds can grow (Byrne and Miller 1990). This may result in physiological disorders of the plant, such as leaf wilting and irregular ripening of the fruit (Schuster et al 1990; McCollum et al 2004). The main problem caused by B. tabaci is the damage done by the viruses they transmit (Morales and Jones 2004)
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