Silverleaf Whitefly and Cotton Lint Stickiness

Abstract

Cotton plant densities of 10 or 40 thousand plants/acre had no effect on numbers of silverleaf whitefly, Bemisia argentifolii Bellows and Perring, adults, eggs, nymphs, extracted sugars from lint samples or thermodetector sticky cotton counts. Higher numbers of whitejlies occurred in early-season in Pima S-7 cotton than in DPL 50 or DPL 5415 cotton. Seasonal averages for sugars, percentages of total reducing sugars and thermodetector counts were higher for DPL 50 compared with Pima S-7 but not DPL 5415. Insecticide treatments reduced thermodetector counts and associated sugars extracted from lint.