Pakistan: Using Chrysopa to control whitefly on tomato plants

Researchers of the Sindh Agriculture University have completed a paper on the use of chrysoperla carnea larvae to control whitefly on tomato plants in greenhouses. 

"In the last ten years, whitefly has presented a serious risk to vegetables most commonly the tomatoes and natural products in the field. Another significant issue is associated with the pest management control system and insect preferences for the tomato plants," they say. "In these lines we investigate Predatory efficiency capability and capacity of Chrysoperla carnea with whitefly Bemisia tabaci in a greenhouse were study at Hyderabad, Pakistan." 

Larvae of Chrysoperla carnea were used against whitefly in a greenhouse. Adult, eggs and nymph of Bemisia tabaci is affected by Chrysoperla carnea. In this experiment used different numbers of larvae is attached to tomatoes plants to measure the efficiency of Chrysoperla carnea larvae. The overall mean population of whitefly indicates positive correlation with the number of larvae introduced. Highest overall mean whitefly population is observed in UnTreated (13.11±1.614) and (4.012±0.804), the lowest count found in 10larvae/plant (7.400±0.904) and (1.363±0.561) for adult and nymph respectively. Up to 50% mortality is observed as compared to untreated plants.

During this experiment, a strong negative correlation is observed between Chrysoperla carnea applied/plant and whitefly population (-0.808) and (-0.978) in adult and nymph respectively. Data also clearly showed decreased from start and after introduced Chrysoperla carnea larvae to tomato plants.

Find the complete research at Researchgate.net