Effect of Plant-Derived Oils on Sweetpotato Whitefly on Cotton

Abstract

Cottonseed oil applied to cotton repelled sweetpotato whitefly (SPW) adults up to 8 days in greenhouse tests. Soybean oil (5 %) resulted in reduced numbers of adults and numbers of eggs laid. SPW egg hatch was reduced 84% after treatment with 10% crude cottonseed oil solutions as measured by the number of first instar larval emergence. Also, numbers of whitefly larvae were reduced 99, 91 and 83% on day 6 following treatment with 10% cottonseed oil, S and 1.5% soybean oil, respectively. Negligible plant leaf phytotoxicity occurred from the plant-derived oil treatments.