Attractivity and biological performance of Bemisia tabaci Mediterranean (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae) on Cucumis melo (L.)

• Grant number: 23/06875-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Effective date (Start): October 01, 2023
• Effective date (End): September 30, 2024
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Agronomy - Plant Health
• Principal Investigator: Carlos Gilberto Raetano
• Grantee: Felipe Savieto Furquim de Souza
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências Agronômicas (FCA). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Botucatu. Botucatu , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The whitefly Bemisia tabaci MED (Mediterranean) is a highly polyphagous insect which causes great damage to agriculture worldwide, so as to cause physiological and morphological effects on various cultivated plants. Besides the abnormalities caused by feeding, the insect is vector of plant viruses, where the complex of 46 cryptic species of B. tabaci is able to transmit more than 300 viruses to various crops. On melon crop, the species MEAM1 and MED cause damage to fruit quality and weight, reducing its commercial value, besides being vector of the crop main disease, the Melon Yellowing, caused by MYaV (Melon yellowing-associated virus). For the pest management, chemical control is mainly used, which efficiency has decreased due to insect resistance for certain active ingredients on the market. Chemical insecticides use intensifies in protected cultivation systems, where B. tabaci MED finds better development conditions due to high temperatures, besides presenting greater genetic disposition for mutations and metabolic route alterations than other species. Given the complexity of this issue, alternative methods to chemical control must be employed within the context of integrated pest management (IPM), requiring the use of insect resistant genotypes. Thus, this study intends to identify commercial melon (Cucumis melo L.) genotypes resistant to B. tabaci MED from a selection of 49 materials present in the Brazil's market. For this, tests will be conducted to analyze the behavior of the insect over the materials, as well as morphological and physiological plants characteristics.