Parvez Qamar Rizvi

Recent Advances in Biopesticides

Consistent and injudicious applications of pesticides leads to the development of resistance in insects, destruction of beneficial organisms, and increases in residual problems, thereby posing a threat to human health and its ecological partners in the living biome. The need of the hour is to develop an eco-friendly approach to combat insect pests that should be able to regulate pest populations by exploring naturally occurring products, including extracts of plants and animals, microbes, parasitic nematodes and insects, and certain minerals. This call for viable alternatives has led the scientific community to engage in unveiling the potential of biopesticides. Currently, some strains of Bacillus thuringiensis, nuclear polyhedrosis virus, fungi, and nematode parasites are commercially available. Exploiting the benefits of biopesticides as biocontrol agents appears to be a more promising approach, assuming that issues of phytopathogens and environmental problems caused by synthetic pesticides can be resolved. This chapter emphasizes the experiences and progress made in the potential and promise of biopesticides in the global scenario.

Aleytrap: An instrumentation to handle adult whitefly, Bemisia tabaci, Gennadius

Whiteflies are fast flying, minute insects in the suborder Homoptera of the Hemiptera; family Aleyrodidae. They are reported to transmit viral diseases in various, economically important agricultural crops. Based on their small size (average wing spans of about 3 mm), whiteflies are difficult to count on plants or capture through insect nets and other tools. Therefore, we developed a feasible and effective method to capture adults and estimate the population size using a new device named “aleytrap”. The device took less time to count whiteflies and was found significantly superior over other conventional methods when used in tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.), chili (Capsicum anuum L.), brinjal (Solanum melongena L.), okra (Abelmuscus esculentus L. Moench), cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.), black gram (Vigna mungo L., Hepper) and green gram (Vigna radiata L., Wilczek).

Comparative biological parameters of whitefly, Bemisia tabaci (Genn.) on fruit bearing vegetable crop plants

Ecology of whitefly Bemisia tabaci Genn., has been studied extensively in the recent past and a varying response was observed on different host plants. The degree of this variation is because of type of host plant combination. The present investigation was conducted to find out the comparative age specific survival, mortality and life table parameters in presence of four major fruit bearing vegetables that is brinjal (Solanum melongena L.), chili (Capsicum annuum L.), tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) and okra (Abelmoschus esculentus (L.) Moench), under laboratory conditions (26±3°C, RH: 75±5% and photophase: 14 h). The maximum survival and minimum mortality was observed on brinjal, while chili has been documented with reciprocity. Among the host plants, on which whitefly was reared, brinjal has shown superiority, documenting least mortality and shorter development of immature stages of whitefly. Least generation time (23.67±0.97 days) was observed on brinjal and maximum time was consumed on chili (33.57±1.10 days). Similarly, the highest intrinsic rate of increase (rm) was recorded on brinjal followed by tomato and the smallest rm was observed on chili. A significant difference in net reproductive rate (Ro) was perceptible, being highest on tomato (89.50±2.13 females/female). However; corresponding potential fecundity and maximum mean egg laying was received on brinjal. Fastest doubling time was also recorded on brinjal (8.41±0.02 days) followed by tomato (10.87±0.03 days) while maximum doubling time was witnessed on chili (14.01±0.05 days). The highest annual rate of increase (ARI), 1.27±0.02x1010 of individuals per year was found on brinjal and lowest on chili. The host preference of whitefly on the basis of present investigations, can be arranged in the following order brinjal>tomato>okra>chili. Key words: Bemisia tabaci, life table, fruit bearing vegetables, life parameters, female fertility