The Effect of Water Stress on Two Short-Season Cultivars of Cotton, Gossypium hisutum L., and the Sweetpotato Whitefly, Bemisia tabaci Genn

Abstract

Deltapine 50 (DP -50) and Stoneville 506 (ST -506), short season cultivars of upland cotton, Gossvpium hirsutum L., were grown under weekly or biweekly irrigation schedules in 0.2 ha plots in a split plot design at Maricopa, AZ. The seasonal average numbers of sweetpotato whitefly eggs and nymphs were 24% greater on leaves of plants irrigated biweekly. The leaves of ST-506 had 26% greater numbers of eggs and nymphs than did leaves of DP -50. Samples of lint from the two cultivars irrigated biweekly had 32 % more sugar than did lint from the cultivars irrigated weekly (weekly = 0.28 ± 0.02% , biweekly = 0.41% ± 0.03% sugar). Our results indicate that the numbers of immature sweetpotato whitefly on cotton plants can be reduced by 47% by selecting a less susceptible cultivar and avoiding plant water stress.