REVIEW ON ECOLOGICAL WHITE FLY MANAGEMENT PRACTICES IN VEGETABLE CROPS

Abstract

White flies Bemisia tabaci Gennadius (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae) is a damaging sap-sucking insect pest of ornamental and vegetable crops. It causes yield reduction and crop damage by feeding on both immature and mature plants as well as spreading viral infections. Due to their widespread use throughout the world, synthetic chemical pesticides have a negative influence on human health, the environment, crop yield, and pollinator health. A few species have also evolved resistance to these pesticides. Sustainable and environmentally responsible management techniques are becoming more and more necessary to control whitefly populations as ecological concerns rise. The purpose of this review is to provide an overview and assessment of the effectiveness of various ecological management techniques used in vegetable crops to manage whiteflies. The review includes cultural, physical, and biological techniques as well as preventive and therapeutic treatments. Through altering their life cycle and habitat, cultural methods like crop rotation, intercropping, and trap cropping have showed promise in lowering whitefly populations. Physical controls like reflecting mulch, insect-proof screens, and sticky traps have proven successful in catching adult whiteflies and limiting their population. The employment of natural enemies like parasitoids, predators, and entomopathogenic fungi in biological control strategies has shown to be highly effective in reducing whitefly populations. These techniques reduce detrimental effects on the environment and human health in addition to providing long-term and sustainable management. These methods support environmentally sound and economically successful sustainable agriculture systems by fostering biodiversity, protecting natural enemies, and lowering the use of synthetic pesticides.