Whitefly Research Articles

Sex Difference in Histopathological and Steroidogenesis Metabolism of Zebrafish After Exposure to Spiromesifen.

Spiromesifen (SPM) is widely used for orchard mites and white fly control. The ecotoxicological data suggested that SPM is highly toxic to fish, but the information about its toxic effect on zebrafish is still obscure. In this study, adult zebrafish were exposed to SPM for 21 days. The plasma sex steroid hormone levels reflected the ratio of 17β-estradiol (E2) to testosterone (T) (E2/T) was significantly increased at 0.50 μg/L of SPM in male fish (2.4-fold, p = 0.049). Following 21 days' post exposure, distinct pathological changes were noted in gonad, males were more sensitive than female, which showed the interstitial connective tissue hyperplasia and widener in testis at 15 μg/L of SPM. In male fish, the relative percentage of spermatozoa was 13% decreased at 30 μg/L of SPM (p = 0.041). Which suggest SPM potential role in disrupting male gonad development. qRT-PCR results suggest that expression of follicle stimulating hormone receptor (fshr) was significantly down regulated in female zebrafish (0.29 fold of control, p = 0.010). Variable importance of projection (VIP) scores indicate the most important features separate in female and male. The different response of steroid level towards SPM between male and female zebrafish may due to the distinct regulation of key genes related in steroidogenesis and metabolism. This study for the first time connects the biochemical and histological to reveal the adverse effects of SPM on adult zebrafish in a sex dependent manner.

Begomoviruses of soybean and their management

Soybean (Glycine max L.) is a member of the family Fabaceae. About 85% of the world's soybeans are processed annually into soybean meal and oil. This oil seed crop has been reported to be infected by a number of plant viruses, which cause huge losses to the farmers all over the world. These viruses not only reduce the yield of the crop but also the oil content. More than 111 viruses or their strains have been reported worldwide infecting soybean. Of these viruses, begomoviruses are the important ones. They cause several types of symptoms in the plants and are transmitted by white flies (Bemisia tabaci) in nature. These viruses can be identified by polymerase chain reaction using the purified viral DNA or total DNA from the virus infected plants. Several strains of geminivirus have been confirmed using sequencing as a powerful tool to establish the homology of the gene sequences. The management of geminiviruses is a problem. Development of resistant varieties and vector control are the main strategies. Marketing of soybean is also one of the important fields of concern so that the farmers could get the good amount for their produce.

Management of White Fly (Bemisia tabaci Genn.) by Different Bio-Pesticides on Red Okra Crop

The experiment was conducted in Kharif season 2023 at an organic research farm, Kargua Ji, Department of Entomology, Bundelkhand University Jhansi. The present investigation was worked out with nine treatments including control (untreated) in three replications, a total of 27 plots were designed under randomized block design against the white fly infestation on the okra crop. Three applications of treatments were carried out and observations were taken at 3 days, 7 days and 14 days after spraying of the treatments. All the treatments were found significantly effective over control to manage the population of the white fly, where Neem oil was found to be the most effective treatment that recorded a minimum population of 6.94 whiteflies per leaf as per NKSE recorded 9.94 white fly/plant and Karanj oil (10.91), where all Neembased product was found effective against white fly moreover among all microbial pesticides Beaveria bassiana found effective. Among all treatments maximum yield was obtained from Neem oil treated plots recorded at 161.36 Qt/hac as per with NSKE (155.87 Qt/hac) but the highest C:B ratio was recorded under NSKE(1:1.82) followed by Neem oil (1:1.77).

Effect of Micronutrients on Incidence, Damage Severity of Sucking Insect Pests of Sunflower and its Impact on Yield and other Arthropods

An experiment was conducted in a field on 23074/N latitude and 90035/E longitude at the central farm of Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Dhaka, Bangladesh from November 2021 to April 2022. The experiment of eight treatments as follows: T1 = Urea @ 210 gm/plot + TSP @ 84gm/plot + MoP @ 98gm/plot [recommended doses (RD) of Urea, TSP and MoP] +Boron @ 7.0 gm/ Plot+ ZnSo4 @ 8.4 gm/ Plot ;T2 = RD of Urea, TSP and MoP +Spraying 0.2% Borax @ 2gm/ L of water; T3= RD of Urea, TSP and MoP +Spraying 0.2% ZnSo4 @ 2gm/ L of water; T4= RD of Urea, TSP and MoP +Spraying 0.5% Borax @ 5gm/ L of water; T5 RD of Urea, TSP and MoP +Spraying 0.2% Borax + 0.2% ZnSo4 @ 2gm/ L of water; T6 = Urea @ 210 gm/plot+ TSP @ 180 gm/plot+ MoP @ 150gm/plot + Spraying 0.5% ZnSo4 @ 5gm/ L of water; T7 = Urea @ 210 gm/plot+ TSP @ 180gm/plot+ MoP @ 150gm/plot+ MgSo4 @ 12 gm/ Plot and T 8= control. The experiment was laid out in a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with 8 treatments and 3 replications. The overall result indicates that the combination of different micronutrients decreased the incidence of sucking insect pests of sunflower and increased the abundance of beneficial arthropods compared to T8 treatment. In T1 treatment, the lowest leaf infestation percentage caused by aphid 17.49 and 19.50 %; Jassid 14.19 and 14.89 % and White fly 26.18 and 30.83 % at the vegetative and reproductive stages respectively. The highest number of beneficial arthropods per plot of lady bird beetle both adults and grubs ((3.63 and 5.53 respectively); honey bee (22.36), ant (3.55), spider (1.42) was also recorded in T1 treatment. The highest yield contributing characters of sunflower, the highest of head/ capitulam diameter (9.75cm), height of plant per plot (179.73 cm), leaf width (14.24 cm), leaf length (21.05 cm), area of leaves per plant (62.29 cm) and number of leaf per plant (21.93), number of total head per plot (29.83), number of seed per head (725.56), weight of single seed (1.03 mg), and weight of seed per head (54.96 gm) of sunflower were observed in T1 treatment which was statistically different from among all other treatments. The highest sunflower yield (1.92 kg /plot) and oil content (0.93 liter/2kg and 46.5%) were also observed from T1 treatment. Among the different micronutrient treatment combinations, different micronutrients using in T1 treatment were more effective for the reducing the incidence of sucking insect pests on sunflower. In the term of effect of micronutrients, T1= Recommended doses of Urea, TSP and MoP + Boron @ 7.0 gm/ Plot+ ZnSo4 @ 8.4 gm/ Plot; was an eco-friendly pest management practice for sunflower by which one can significantly reduce pest infestation without use of any chemical insecticides.

Resource overlap and infrequent predation on key pests show vulnerability in cotton biological control services

Promoting arthropod biodiversity to increase ecosystem services through ecological intensification is a challenge for agriculture. And recent evidence suggests that standard pesticide applications not only harm natural enemies but may also fail to deliver long-term pest control solutions. To fuel ecological intensification and build predictive frameworks for pest management incorporating estimates of pest abundance, natural enemy abundance and their associated interactions is essential. Within this framework, there is a need to shift the focus from a single pest and predator to consider the community of predatory arthropods that interact with communities of prey. We took a network-based approach to investigate community interactions of predatory arthropods that feed on key pests and alternative prey in cotton over a three-year period. We merged prey activity, generalist predator communities collected from cotton canopies, and reconstructed trophic interactions with DNA detection frequencies estimated from molecular gut content analysis. Overall, many predator diets overlap, resulting in similar foraging patterns on groups of cotton pests. Moreover, predation on key cotton pests, such as stink bugs and white flies, was low. Therefore, ecological intensification that increases specialized arthropod predators within the community should improve biological control service delivery.

Effect of Bio-stimulants on Growth, Yield, Quality and Biotic Resistance in Chilli (Capsicum annuum L.)

In 2021, a field experiment was conducted out at ICAR-Krishi Vigyana Kendra in Bengaluru Rural District, Karnataka state, India, to investigate the impact of bio-stimulants on the growth, yield, and quality of chillies (Capsicum annuum L.). The company supplied Lakshmi Hybrid Inputs Seeds Pvt. Ltd. with Chilli Hybrid seeds (LHC-1835), that were utilized to produce the seedlings. In the present investigation, the application of amino acid-based biostimulants was carried out employing a randomized complete block design with seven treatments being replicated three times and spaced 90 by 45 cm apart. The results indicated that the maximum plant height (87.80 cm), primary branches (9.13), secondary branches (18.27), root length (27.07 cm), number of fruits per plant (58.33), fruit length (16.82 cm), and fruit diameter (1.31) with less incidence of pests such as white fly, thrips and murda complex were recorded with seedling dip and foliar application of amino acid-based bio-stimulant.

Evaluation of Integrated Pest Management Practices against the Incidence of White Fly and Bean Yellow Mosaic Virus (BYMV) in Rajmash (Phaseolus vulgaris L.)

Evaluation of Integrated Pest Management Practices against the Incidence of White Fly and Bean Yellow Mosaic Virus (BYMV) in Rajmash (Phaseolus vulgaris L.)

Studies on Insect Pest Succession and their Natural Enemies in Brinjal

The Present investigation was carried out at College of Agriculture, Vijayapura, Karnataka to study insect - pests succession and their natural enemies on brinjal during 2021-22. Studies revealed that, four species of insect pests and one coccinellid predatorwere observed at different crop growth stages. The first attack on the crop appeared at one week after transplantation and continued up to till crop reached fruiting and maturity stage. Pests that found attacking on the crop were leaf hopper (Amrasca biguttulabiguttula Ishida), aphids (Aphis gossypii Glover), whitefly (Bemisia tabaci Gennadius), shoot and fruit borer (Leucinodes orbonalis Guenee) and coccinellid predator, Cheliomenes sexmaculata (Fabricius). Brinjal shoot and fruit borer (L. orbonalis) was identified as amajor pest among them.From the seedling stage to fruiting and maturity stage, the populations of Jassids, aphids, coccinellids were observed, white flies were observed from vegetative stage to fruiting and maturity stage, while the population of shoot and fruit borer were observed and recorded during the vegetative stage to fruiting and maturity stage of the crop. Leaf hoppers, aphids and whitefly were found to damage the crop moderatelyand extent of damage caused by L. orbonalis was created much economic loss.

Crop Infestation Classification Using MIL-Attention Based CNN

Agriculture constantly faces various challenges including attacks from new pests and insects. With large farm sizes and plummeting manpower in the agricultural sector, it becomes challenging to continuously monitor crops for pest infestation. In this research paper, a specific type of pest attack known as the white fly attack has been investigated which affects a variety of crops. This paper presents a multiple instance learning based deep learning approach based on Convolutional Neural Networks for the detection of whitefly pests. A comparative analysis with conventional machine learning and deep learning techniques has also been presented. The performance of the proposed system has been evaluated in terms of the classification accuracy. The experimental results obtained show that the proposed technique attains a classification accuracy of 98.5% and outperforms both separate feature trained machine learning models and well as baseline deep learning models in terms of classification accuracy. Keywords: Precision Agriculture, Whitefly Pest Detection, Feature Extraction, Machine Learning, Deep Learning, Multi Instance Learning (MIL), Classification Accuracy.

Efficacy of novel insecticides against piercing sucking insects and their natural enemies on sweet pepper plants under field conditions.

Piercing sucking pests attacking sweet pepper plants cause significant losses to its yield. Considering the undesirable effects of synthetic pesticides, field studies were conducted to evaluate the impact of new pesticides against piercing sucking insect pests of sweet pepper, as well as, their effects on some predators and pepper yield along two seasons of 2021-2022. The obtained results indicated that all tested pesticides effectively suppressed the sucking insect populations (aphids, white fly, thrips) 1,7,14 and 21 days after treatment along two sprays during two seasons. Imidacloprid proved to be the superior one over all other treatments where it recorded mean reduction% (98.91 and 97.27%) & (94.8 and 95.19%), (86.23 and 76.64%) & (80.92 and 88.55%) and (77.68 and 78.44%) & (90.70 and 68.57%) in white fly, aphids and thrips, respectively at 1st and 2nd sprays at 2021 and 2022 seasons, respectively. As for side effects of tested insecticides on natural enemies, Dimethoate induced the highest decrease (60.85 and 69.33%) & (54.02 and 63.41%), (65.52 and 64.74%) & (59.23 and 58.38%) and (64.24 and 59.48%) & (61.66 and 60.8%) on Chrysoperla carnea, Paederus alfierii and Coccinella spp at 1st and 2nd sprays at 2021 and 2022 seasons, respectively. On contrary, Spintoram induced the lowest effects on Chrysoperla carnea, Paederus alfierii and Coccinella spp, recording decrease percent (25.41 and 19.84%) & (15.02 and 12.50%), (11.94 and 11.24%) (16.99 and 18.02%) and (18.73 and15.07%) & (18.35 and18.38%) at1st and 2nd sprays at 2021 and 2022 seasons, respectively. With respect to the effect of tested insecticides on pepper yield, all tested insecticides increased the yield of green pepper fruits compared with control. Imidacloprid achieved the highest fruit yields along two seasons 6.43 and 6.52 (ton / fed.4200 m2) with increase percent 34.53 and 36.04% in yield over control at 2021 and 2022 seasons, respectively.

Botanical Leaf Extracts and Mulching Materials in Organic Eggplant (Solanum Melongena L.) Off Season Production

The extensive use of pesticides and the risk they pose to human and the environment requires safe alternatives in crop production hence the study on the efficacy of botanical leaf extracts and mulching materials in organic eggplant production. This study determined the best level combination of botanical leaf extracts that has repellent and knockdown effects on major eggplant insect pest, best level combination of botanical leaf extracts that produces the highest marketable yield; best mulching materials; best level combination of botanical leaf extracts and mulching; correlation of infestation to yield; profitability of eggplant production using botanical leaf extracts and mulching materials combined; and evaluate the effects of botanical leaf extracts and mulching materials on soil chemical properties. A Bioassay test on the botanical leaf extracts was conducted prior to field experiment. Mass rearing the test insects was done to ensure uniform number of insect in eggplant per treatment. A Split- plot in Factorial Design was used in the study with three blocks. The main plot were the leaf extracts of Neem, Madre de Cacao+ Guava at 1:1:1 ratio were: P0 – No Application, P1 –250 ml leaf extract/16 li water, P2 –500 ml leaf extract /16 li water, P3 –750 ml leaf extract /16 li water, P4 – 40 ml Commercial insecticide/16 li water. The sub-plot was: M1 – Black Plastic mulch, M2 – Carbonize Rice Hulls, and M3 – Saw Dust. Results of the bioassay showed highly significant knockdown effect in the application of 500-750ml leaf extract/16 li water on fruit and shoot borer, lady spotted beetle and white flies comparable to application of commercial insecticide/16 li water. Significant repellent effects on Fruit Shoot Borer and Lady spotted beetles but no repellent effects on white flies for an application of 250ml botanical leaf extracts/16li water. Results under field condition showed that plants applied with 750ml botanical leaf extracts/16 li water is more effective than commercial insecticide/16 li water in reducing damaged leaves during the early vegetative stage of development (2nd WAT) and at reproductive stage of development (10th WAT). Highly significant difference was obtained in terms in weight of non-marketable fruit. No significant interaction was registered between botanical leaf extracts and mulching materials. Regression correlation analysis revealed that there was a direct correlation between the numbers of damaged leaves to yield. Combined application of botanical leaf extracts at 750ml/16 li water + carbonized rice hulls obtained Php 797,635.15 net for organic off-season eggplant production. Soil pH, OM, P, and K were increased with application of sawdust, carbonized rice hulls and plastic mulch.

MAUS 725: A early maturity, high seed yielding and biotic stress tolerant variety release for the Marathwada region of Maharashtra

Soybean variety MAUS 725 developed by cross between widely adopted soybean varieties viz., JS 93-05 and MAUS 71. The soybean variety MAUS 725 recorded average seed yield 2207 kg/ha in state multilocation trial of Maharashtra during 2017-18 to 2020-21 (36 trials) and showed superiority of 7.65%, 10.57 % and 11.11% over national checks JS 335, JS 93-05 and JS 97-52, and 5.49 % over local check MAUS 71, respectively. In regional multilocation trial (Marathwada) conducted during 2017-18 to 2020-21 (14 trials), it recorded average seed yield 2398 kg/ha and showed the superiority of 25.54 %, 25.15 % and 33.66 % over national checks JS 335, JS 93-05 and JS 97-52 and 15.06 % over local check MAUS 71, respectively. In AICRP trial conducted during 2017-18 across seven locations in southern zone it recorded average seed yield 2161 kg/ha and showed superiority 10.48 % over national check JS 93-05. Soybean variety MAUS 725 recorded early maturity (93-98 days) and showed the numerical higher test weight as compared to national and local checks. In adoptive trials of farmers field MAUS 725 has recorded average seed yield of 2106 kg/ha and 2253 kg/ha during kharif 2020 & 2021 and showed superiority of 13.65, 17.85 and 12.70, 17.34per cent over local check MAUS 71 and national check JS 335, respectively. The soybean variety MAUS 725 showed moderate to highly resistant against stem tunnelling due to stem fly, moderate resistant against girdle beetle, moderate resistant to resistant against defoliators, moderate to highly resistant against aphids and white fly across zone in AICRP IVT trial conducted during 2017-18. Newly developed variety MAUS725 was observed to be Moderately resistant/Resistant/Highly resistant/Absolute resistant to several diseases like Bacterial pustule, Pod blight, Soybean yellow mosaic virus, Brown spot, Bacterial blight, Soybean crinkle virus, Indian bud blight, Soybean mosaic virus, Alternaria leaf spot, Charcoal rot and Purple seed stain in AICRP CIVT infection index of various diseases conducted during kharif 2017-18 across all zones of India.

Biodiversity and Succession of Insects of Blackgram (Vigna mungo (L.) Hepper) During rabi in the Western Undulating Zone of Odisha

The field experiment was conducted to study about insect biodiversity and their succession in blackgram crop at the crop research farm, College of Agriculture, OUAT, Bhawanipatna during rabi 21. Twenty seven insects belong to seven orders and twenty two families were recorded during different growth stages of crop in an overlapping manner. Beside the insects twelve numbers of predators, three numbers of parasitoids and two pollinators were also noticed. The highest diversity index and evenness of insects were recorded at 42 SMW (0.902 and 1.000) followed by 50 SMW (0.833 and 0.710) respectively. The diversity of insects was almost uniform because of the evenness of the species. The insect order homoptera and the insect white fly came under superdominant class of dominance during all the growth stages of crop, whereas coleoptera and hemiptera were categorized under sub-dominant class at vegetative stage and flowering to podding stage of crop growth respectively. The insect orders hemiptera, coleoptera, diptera and hymenoptera and the insects i.e., galerucid beetle, jassid, stem fly, aphids and thrips came under recedent class of dominance. The relative abundance and dominant status of insect’s revealed that the maximum numbers of insects were belongs to orders homoptera (75.22%) followed by hemiptera (7.92%), coleoptera (6.30%), diptera (4.62%), hymenoptera (4.05%), orthoptera (0.89%), lepidoptera (0.86%) and odonata (0.09%).Chrysomelid beetles were noticed first during the early vegetative stage of crop followed by stem fly, white fly, leaf webber and semiloopers at the vegetative stage, tobacco caterpillar from late vegetative to pod filling stage, thrips in flowering stage, pod borers, pod bugs, aphids, pentatomid bugs and bihar hairy caterpillar from flowering to crop maturity stage and the pod fly and pod wasp from pod filling to pod maturity stage of the crop. Jassids, grasshoppers and predators like spiders, coccinellids beetles and parasitoids were appeared from mid vegetative stage and continued till fag end of the crop. The peak activities of insects were recorded from flowering to pod maturity stage of the crop.

ANTI-FEEDANT ACTIVITIES OF PLANT EXTRACTS AGAINST INSECT PESTS AND ON THEIR NATURAL ENEMIES ON BRINJAL (SOLANUM MELONGENA L.).

Brinjal (Solanum melongena L.) is one of the commonly consumed vegetable in many countries including Pakistan. And attack by sucking and chewing insect pests likewise, Jassid, aphid, whitefly, shoot and fruit borers, cause significant losses in yield production. Therefore a research trail was conducted to evaluate effect of plant extracts against sucking and chewing insect pests and their associated natural enemies in brinjal crop under field conditions. For this four different plant extracts (Neem seed, Garlic, Eucalyptus and Tobacco) were used to evaluate their efficacy. Two sprays were applied at fifteen intervals and data was recorded before and after 24 hours and 72 hours after spray. In present results, we observed that all plant extracts significantly reduced insect pest population as compared with control groups, while among plant extracts the neem seed and garlic extract were observed more lethal to jassids, aphids and on white flies respectively, as compared to eucalyptus and tobacco extract. Similarly, a minimum damage % of fruit borer was also observed in neem seed and garlic extract as compared to tobacco and eucalyptus. However, no adverse effects were observed on natural enemies.

NSECTICIDAL AACTIVITIES OF THE AQUEOUS EXTRACTS OF CHROMOLAENA ODORATA LEAVES AND ANACARDIUM OCCIDENTALE NUTSHELL LIQUID AGAINST INSECT PESTS OF CABBAGE AND ITS EFFECT ON YIELD

The current study investigated the insecticidal potential of Anacardium occidentale and Chromolaena odorata in managing the main insect pests of cabbage in field settings. The 2018 and 2019 major and minor rainy seasons were when the study was carried out. Four treatments were used: a normal insecticide (Emamectin benzoate, 3 mL/L), a water extract of C. odorata leaves, a water extract of A. occidentale nutshell liquid (50 g/L), and soapy water as a control. Four replicates were used in a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) arrangement for these. The quantity and presence of insects, an evaluation of leaf damage, and an estimation of harvest yield were the data collected. Thirteen different species of insects were recorded, and classified as major, minor, and beneficial pests. Plutella xylostella and Hellula undalis infestations in the control group were generally much greater than those in the other treatments. The botanicals were more successful than the control at reducing the aphid population. In general, the botanicals outperformed the control in terms of Phyllotreta sp. and ant population; however, there was no discernible difference in the response for Zonoceros variagatus and cabbage white flies. The mean weights, head diameters, and mean head heights for each treatment showed a significant difference (p < 0.05). For both seasons, more than 60% of the leaves had damage ranging from 0% to 20% (Damage 1). The results of this study demonstrate the two botanicals insecticidal properties against the most common insect pests of cabbage, allowing them to be included in an integrated pest management (IPM) package.

Impact of Weather Parameters on Incidence of White Fly Population and Yellow Mosaic Disease (YMD) in Soybean

A field experiment was carried out at the field of Jawaharlal Nehru Krishi Vishwa Vidyalaya, Jabalpur during the 2022-23 Kharif season to investigate the dynamics of Bemisia tabaci and YMD incidence on the soybean crop variety JS-335 with weather parameter. Incidence of YMD howed a negative but non-significant relationship with the highest temperature and negatively significant correlation (-0.627*) with the lowest temperature. There was a non-significant positive correlation between the disease and the lowest relative humidity as well as rainfall. In terms of Whitefly population, there was a significant negative correlation (-0.752**) with rainfall, indicating that as rainfall increased, Whitefly population decreased.

Effects of soil amendments on growth and biomass yield of early generation seeds of sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas (L.) Lam) grown in net tunnels.

Early generation sweet potato vines are multiplied on nursery beds with high densities using soil medium within insect-proof net tunnels to inhibit the entrance of virus-transmitting insects (aphids and white flies). However, the rapid multiplication beds require suitable soil amendments to support vigorous growth of vines. To this end, farmyard manure, wood ash, sawdust, compost, coffee husk and control (soil only) were evaluated using Randomized Complete Block Design with three replications during the belg and meher seasons of 2016 to 2017 in the Chefe testing site of Hawassa Agriculture Research Center. Results also showed that the soil pH was higher by 8.9% and 1.4% due to the application of wood ash and sawdust whereas there was 9.3, 5.9 and 0.9% decrease in soil pH due to the use of compost, coffee husk and farmyard manure, respectively. All soil amendments enhanced soil moisture conservation compared to the control. A 47.0%, 31.2%, 30.3% and 26.5% increase in cation exchange capacity was observed by the end of second year due to use of coffee husk, wood ash, sawdust and farmyard manure, respectively. The potassium content was increased by 47.0%, 45.5% and 35.9% due to the use of wood ash, farmyard manure and coffee husk, respectively. The pencil root length, pencil root width and below-ground biomass were not affected significantly (P < 0.05) by differences in soil amendments (P < 0.05) in this experiment. The percentage increment in above-ground biomass due to the farmyard manure, coffee husk and compost was 62.01%, 53.56% and 49.87%, respectively higher than the control. Sawdust suppressed vine growth compared to the control. Coffee husk and farmyard manure medium produced higher number of branches (23 branches / plant) during meher whereas coffee husk produced the same during belg (14.4 branches / plant). Significantly (P < 0.05) higher number of vines was obtained due to farmyard manure (4686 vines/m2) and coffee husk (4602 vines/m2) compared to the control (2683 vines/m2). Significantly longer internodes were recorded due to the farmyard (100.6% greater) compared to the control. Thus, 50% farmyard manure, 50% coffee husk or 50% compost are recommended for better growth of pre-basic sweet potato vines in net tunnels. This study proclaimed possibility of nursery bed vine multiplication through use of local organic residues at the level of small holders and research sites during short and long rain seasons.

Health risk due to pesticide exposure in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) crop in Oaxaca, Mexico

Pesticides increase agricultural productivity worldwide. Unfortunately, these pesticides put public health and the environment at risk. This study aimed to document the presence of pests and diseases in tomato crops, the range of pesticides used, and acute pesticide poisoning symptoms (APP) among producers from various municipalities in the State of Oaxaca, Mexico. Surveys were applied from 2019 to 2021. The information was examined through a descriptive analysis. The Mann-Whitney U test and Spearman’s Rho correlation established differences between groups and associations. The main pests were the white fly, various worms, blight, mildew, and weeds. Fifty-five active ingredients (AI) were identified, predominantly Toxicological Category (TC) IV, such as insecticides and fungicides, as well as TC III herbicides. Factors associated with a greater diversity of AI were &lt;10 years in agricultural activity, high presence of pests and diseases, and surfaces &gt;1 ha. Up to six APP symptoms occurred in 60.6% of the producers, and 58.2% of the AI identified are considered hazardous pesticides. Highlights: Fifty-five active ingredients were identified in tomato crops, predominantly insecticides and fungicides. More than fifty percent of the active ingredients identified are considered hazardous pesticides. Up to six acute pesticide poisoning symptoms occurred in 60.6% of the producers.

Molecular characterization and evolutionary history analysis of a novel Kudzu mosaic virus (KMV) infecting the Kudzu (Pueraria montana)

ObjectivesPlant viruses are a significant contributor to the economic losses experienced in numerous plant species. Begomoviruses exhibit a wide range of host species, encompassing both cultivated and non-cultivated plants. The kudzu plant, scientifically known as Pueraria montana, is indigenous to the Southeast Asian region. Moreover, it exhibits varied attributes with regards to its utilization in the fields of medicine, food, cosmetics, and the herbal industry. MethodsDuring a routine survey, some P. montana plants having typical symptoms of yellowing, mosaic, and mottle were observed in areas including Fort-Minro (FM) and Anari of district Dera Ghazi Khan and Maari (MA) of district Rajanpur. The genomic DNA was extracted from the collected samples. The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and rolling circular amplification (RCA) was carried out to isolate the DNA and DNA- β from the collected plant specimens. An evolutionary research was conducted to assess the lineage of this virus inside a novel geographical region. ResultsA 500-bp amplicon size was obtained from the samples of the FM and MA, while the approximately 2.7-kb amplicon size of its full genome was obtained from the samples of both locations. The results of the sequence analysis demonstrated conclusively that the plants in question are infected with Kudzu mosaic virus (KMV). The evolutionary history analysis has confirmed the virus's lineage in a new region, and the nucleotide frequencies of obtained sequences were variable. ConclusionThe presence of a novel bipartite begomovirus in the tropical region has been substantiated using a phylogenetic and evolutionary investigation. The observation of a white fly population on infected plants has also suggested that the transmission of this virus through the migration of this insect vector can be a viable mechanism.

Population Dynamics of Major Insect Pests Associated with Karanja (Pongomia pinnata L.) Pierre Based Agroforestry System

A study was carried out at Jabalpur (M.P.), India on the population dynamics of the major inspect pests in Karanja (Pongomia pinnata L.) Pierre in 40 provenances intercropped with soybean. Three major insect pests namely leafminer (Liriomyza trifolii), white fly (Bemissia tabaci) and and stemfly (Melanagromyza sojae (Zehntner)) were found infesting the karanja trees well as soybean crop A girdle beetle (Obereopsis bravis) and cow bug were also observed. Incidence of cow bug started in the first week of July and continued up to last of September. The population of cow bug attained its peak. by the middle of August at minimum and maximum temperature of 23.5℃ and 31.5℃ respectively, minimum and maximum relative humidity of 75% and 88% respectively and rainfall of 122 mm. The incidence of stem fly appeared from second week of august and continued up to last week of October and its highest population synchronized with adequate number of leaves of tree. The correlation studies a significant and positive correlation and did not differ significant between the insect population of white fly, girdle beetle and bark cater pillar between The population dynamics of Jassid. stem fly girdle, and bark eating caterpillar was not affected by average relative humidity.