Whitefly Adults in Okra-Leaf and Normal-Leaf Cotton

Abstract

The sweet potato whitefly, Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius) continues to be a serious pest of cotton and an important vector of several virus diseases of fall vegetables. In our search for resistant germplasm, we counted adult whiteflies on cotton cultivars and breeding stocks in AZ and Israel. At Maricopa (MAC), seven of 19 cottons had significantly fewer whiteflies than the check, 'Stoneville 825'. Five of the seven were okra-leaf and two were normal-leaf cottons. In another experiment at MAC, an okra-leaf cotton did not have fewer whiteflies than a normal-leaf one. At several locations in Israel, the okraleaf cotton, BD-12, had significantly fewer whiteflies than a number of normal-leaf cottons.