Seasonal incidence of whitefly,Bemisia tabaci(Aleyrodidae: Hemiptera) on different genotypes of okra, correlated with ecological parameters

Abstract

Studies revealed that the incidence of the whitefly started in the third week of February and persisted throughout the season, on all the varieties. The varieties Arka Abhay (V1) and VRO-5 (V4), showed minimum build-up of whitefly population. The incidence started from the second and fourth week of March and, reached its peak in the second and first week of April and continued to decline till the maturation of the crop on the varieties, Arka Abhay (V1) and VRO-5 (V4) respectively. The pest incidence was found to be maximum, when maximum and minimum temperature ranged from 41.10 to 20.70°C and 40.50 to 18.30°C and relative humidity ranged from 61 to 15% and 57 to 14% on the varieties, Arka Abhay (V1) and VRO-5 (V4) respectively. Positive and significant correlation with maximum temperature and negative and significant correlation with maximum relative humidity was observed with whitefly population on both the varieties.