Indian J. Agric. Res.

, 35 (3) : 155 - 160, 2001

BIOLOGY AND FLUCTUATION OF WHITE FLY

(BEMISlA TABACIGENN.) POPULATION ON TOMATO AS
INFLUENCED BY ABIOTIC FACTORS
UNDER TERAI REGION OF WEST BENGAL
N. Chaudhuri·, D.C. Deb· and S.K. Senapati
Department of Agril. Entomology, Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya,
North Bengal Campus, Pundibari, Cooch Behar - 736 165, India
ABSTRACT
The population of white fly (Bemesia tabaci Genn.) on tomato in terai region of West Bengal
was studied between 1997 and 1998. The population reached the highest level (1.68/plant)
during middle of February and high level was maintained. from mid February to mid March when
temperature, relative humidity, sunshine hr/dayand rainfall were ranged from 17.07-22. 13°C,
65.29-72.78%, 7. 79-8.98hr/day and 5mm respectively. Temperature, relative humidity and rainfall
was found negatively correlated with white fly population. Under laboratory conditions the pest
was biologically more active dUring October-November. All the development stages was recorded
longer in December"January and being shorter during October-November. Duration of life cycle
was longer (40days) dUring December-January when temperature and relative humidity was re-
corded 21.13-25.60oC and 60.58% respectively and being shorter dUring October-November
(19.57 days) at 26.98-29.200C, temperature and 71.87% relative humidity. Duration,of different
life stages and' thereby life cycle was found negatively correlated with temperature and relative
humidity indicating the pest was more biologically active dUring dryer part of the' crop growing
season.

INTRODUCTION the incidence of the pest varied in different

Tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum
Mill.) suffers from various insect-pests and
among them tomato white fly (Bemisia tabaci
Genn.) is the most important. Apart from di-
rect 'damages by sucking and devitalizing of
plants, it causes more damage by spreading'
leaf curl virus disease leading to huge loss. The
pest is polyphagous and is active throughout
the year on different host plants depending
upon regional ecological conditions. Bhardwaj
and Kushwaha (1984) reported that white fly
completed 11 generations in a year on tomato
seedlings under laboratory conditions. It com-
pleted life cycle within 34.5±1.4 days on an
average at 30±20oC temperature and 60±5%
relative humidity (Hendi et aI., 1987). The ac-
tivity of this pest is more in dry season as re-
ported by Butani and Jotwani (1984). Quiros
et aI. (1995) reported that the flies are the major
problem in young plants of tomato. In India
• Present address: Department of Zoology, University of NOl1h Bengal, Darjeeling - 734 101, India.
agro-ecological situations, in plains of India dur-
ing spring and summer (Saklani and Mathai,
1978), in Punjab infestation was more on win-
tercrop than summer (Butler and Rataul, 1978)
and in Assam during October-November (Borah
and Bordoloi, 1998). Venugopal Rao and
Reddy (1994) reported that population build
up showed definite negative correlation with
temperature, rainfall and relative humidity while
in Rajasthan the population was negatively cor-
related with relative humidity and positively with
temperature where peak population was ob-
served in October, March and November
(Bhardwaj and Kushwaha, 1984).
It is seen from above discussion that
the activity of. white fly varied at different agro-
ecological situation and also in different grow'
ing seasons even in the saine region. Srivastava
(1993) opined that climatological conditions
like temperature, humidity,day length (photo-,
156 INDIAN JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH
period) directly affect the population of both
pests and host plants. Climate also' restrict the'
dispersals of the pests to particular localities or
else they would spread far and wide. In view of
the foregoing, the present work was undertaken
to study the biology and seasonal fluctuation
of white fly (Bemisia tabacl), an important pest
of tomato in terai region.
MATERIAL AND METHODS
The experiments were conducted for
two years from 1997 to 1998in the instruc-
tional farm and research laboratory, Depart-
ment of Agril. Entomology, Bidhan Chandra
Krishi Viswavidyalaya, North Bengal Campus,
Pundibari, Cooch Behar, West Bengal.
Avinash-II, a commonly grown F1
Hybrid were transplanted in 3m x 6m size plots
four times at monthly interval starting from'
24th November under recommended fertiliz-
ers (130:65:65 kg. NPK/ha) and usual cultural
practices in randomized block design with six
.. b' h' fl
rephcations. 0 servatlons on w Ite y pOPU-
lation were recorded from 10 randomly selected
pIants per pI0 t at Seven days m . terval ~'1·th "Its
appearance on plant. The weekly data on white
fl y popuIa ti on was a e WI'th preval'1'mg
. 'correltd
weath er parameters. . on tomato. Both the aforementioned observa-
Adult flies were collected from the
naturally. infested fi~ld and released on seed-
lings raised on earthen pots covered with mus-
lin cloth made cage. After confarming of egg
laying the adults were removed. The nymphs
orr emergence started feeding on leaves where
eggs were laid. Before being active, t~y passed
sometimes in a mute condition. This stage was
considered as the pupal stage. The flies were
then released on other plants and the duration
of developmental stages were recorded for four
generations, pooled and analysed. .
The room temperature and relattve
humidity dUring the study were recorded and
correlation studies were made to find the rela-
tionship between duration of developmental'
stages with the weather factors.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
.Incidence : Auctuation of white fly
population during the crop growing season for
two years studied (Fig-I) revealed that the white
fly population on the crop was initiated on 49th
standard week Le. from early December. Mod-
erate population was maintained up to 5th stan-
dard week Le. first week of February. The popu-
lation reached at highest level (1. 68/plant) on
6th standard week Le. middle of February and
higher level was maintained from 6th-10th
standard week Le. from middle of February to
middle of March and declined thereafter, Naresh
e~aJ. (19?0) reported that .in Nainital.(~erai re-
glon of Uttar Pradesh) whIte fly remamed ac-
tive ftom Oc~ober~o ~ay on tom~to, confirm~
the ptesent mvestigation. Saklanl and MathaI
(1978) reported that in plains of India popula-
tion of B. tabaci was higher during. spring,
which is also in support of present fmdings.
H B ah dB d I . (1998) rded
.owever, or a~ ot' 0 01 reco
hIgher fly population from the 10th-25th Dc-
tober planted crop and Kobatake. et al. ~ 1981)
observed peak occurrence of whIte fly m July
.
tions are not in confirmity with the present fmd-
ings which might be due to regional climatic
variation as influenced by agrocllmatic condi-
tions, determine largely the actiVity and f1uc-
tuation of white fly population.!In Ludhiana,
Punjab, white fly was most active at tempera-
ture ranged 33-390C (Butter and Rataul, 1978)
but in terai region of West J3engal temperature
was never too high during the crop growing
season therefore, higher fly populatlon was
observed at 17.07-22.13 0 C temperature,
65.?9-72.78% relative humiditY, 7.79-8.94 ~
hr/day sunshine and 5mm total rainfall respec- .I
tively. Moreover, the temperature is not the
only factor determining the fly population but
all the weather parameters and ,availability of
 Vol. 35, No.3, 2001 157

120

100 ]=
~

---
1.5
White fly
~ Temperature
] to
~
... - - : - Humidity

--
0. ..c
';:: Q)
.Sunshine
~
0 . Rainfall
:I:l u
..!!!
8- Jl
.£ N
40
~
0.5
~
ci.
u E
~

050515t 1 l 34 5 ~ 7 • , 1011 n n 14 15 I~ 17 18 l ' lO

Standard week .
Fig. 1. Seasonal incidence of white fly (Bemisia tabaci Genn.) population/plant (average of
two years) on tomato as influenced by prevailing weather conditions

Taple 1. Correlation of white fly population on tomato crop all through out the growing season
with prevailing environmental conditions
Weather parameters White fly/plant
Maximum temperatureOC -0.121
Minimum temperature OC -0.405"
Tempe~ture gradient OC 0.688"
Average temperature OC -0.290
Maximum RH% 0.285
Minimum RH% -0.649"
RH Gradient% 0.683"
Average RH% -0.476"
Sunshine hr/day 0.559"
Rainfall (mm) -0.469"
" Significant
host plants in combination forming complex negative and non-significant but maximum rela-
which largely determine the size and fluctua- tive humidity was found positive and non-sig-
tion of any species. nificantlycorrelated with pest populati~n. The
From correlation studies (Table-I) it is negative correlation' of white fly ~opulation to
observed that minimum temperature, average temperature, relative humidity and rainfall as
and minimum relative humidity and rainfall had found in present study is inconfirmity, with
significant and negative correlation with' the the findings of Venugopal Rao and Reddy
pest population, while temperature and rela- (1994). Butani and Jotwani (1984) reported
tive humidity gradient and sunshine hr/day that activity of white fly decreased with the
showed significant and positive correlation. onset of rains which is also in 'support to the
Maximum and average temperature was found results under present studies. The results un-
 ....
<J1
00

Table 2. Duration of different developmental life stages of white fly (Bemisia tabac~ on tomato
in laboratory conditions
Duration (days)
Month Incubation Nymphal Pupal Preoviposition Oviposition Adult Male Adult Female UfeCycle
z
October-November 6.15 8.30 4.00 1.12 2.32 4.50 7.12 19.57 ~
(5.50-7.00) (7.50-9.00) (3.00-5.00) (1.00-2.00) (1.75-2.00) (4.00-5.50) (6.50-8.00) (17.00-23.00)
November-December 8.10 10.00 5.05 2.00 3.57 6.00 8.50 25.25
6c
(7.00-9.00) (9.00-11.00) (4.50-6.00) (1.50-3.00) (3.004.50) (5.00-7.00) {7. 50-9.00) (22.00-29.00)
December-January 10.00 18.50 7.25 3.00 5.00 12.50 14.00 40.00
(9.50-11.00) (18.00-19.00) (6.50-8.00) (2.75-4.00) (3.00-6.00) (11.75-13.00) (12.00-16.00) (36.75-42.00)
~o
February-March 15.25 16.35 6.00 2.50 4.00 7.35 10.00 38.75 ."
(14.50-16.00) (15.75-17.00) (5.00-7.00) (2.00-3.50) (3.504.50) (7.00-8.50) (9.00-12.00) (37.25-43.50)
Mean 9.87 13.29 5.57 2.15 3.72 7.59 9.91 30.87
C
Figure in parenthesis indicate ranges of duration developmental stages.
~
~
~
Table 3. Correlation co-efficient (r) between duration of different stages of life cycle of'whitefly (Bemisia tabac~ and mean weather parameters r-
Weather parameters Incubation Nymphal Pupal Preoviposition Oviposition Adult Male Adult Female Ufe Cycle ~
Maximum temperature DC -0.861* -0.894" -0.969" -0.670 -0.781 -0.931* -0.90r -0.951*::l:l
Minimum temperature DC -0.937" -0.917" -0.961* -0.876" -0.915* -0.976*-0.952" -0.944" 2
Average tf'mperature DC -0.990" -0.911" -0.965" -0.804" -0.866" -0.983* -0.933* -0.947*
Average RH% -0.678" -0.673 -0.884* -0.225 -0.468 -0.493 -0.298 -0.856*
. "Significant.

"
 Vol. 35, No.3, 2001
der present investigation were not in confirmity
with Bhardwaj and Kushwaha (1984) where
white fly population was negatively correlated
with relative humidity and positively correlated
with temperature in Rajasthan. This might be
due to wide variation in temperature and rela-
tive humidity in two completely different agro-
ecological situation.
Biology: Duration of different devel-
opmental stages were increased with the de-
crease of temperature and relative humidity
(Table-2). The results under present investiga-
tion revealed that the duration of all the devel-
opmental stages were more during December-
January while these were less during October-
November, which is in confirmity with the find-
ings of Butani and Jotwani (1984) where the
duration of different developmental stages were
" recorded longer in winter than the summer.
Incubation period was lowest 6.15 days (at
27.25-30.00oC temperature and 79% relative
humidity) during October-M'ovember and high-
est being 15.25 ~ys (at 20.36-24.43°Ctem-
perature and 62.6f>% relative humidity) dur-
ing February-March (Table-3). Bhardwaj and
Kushwaha (1987) reported that the incubation,
nymphal, pupal stage lasted on an average 5.9
days 10.10 day and 6.80 days in Rajasthan
but the corresponding values under present in-
vestigation were 9.87 days, 13.29 days and
5.57 days during October-March (Table-2)
which might be due to variation in regional cli-
matic conditions. Under present investigations
nymphal and' I'JUpal stage were longer during
.December-January- ~d shorter during Octo-
ber-November. This findings supports Butani
and Jotwani where all these stages were longer
during winter than summer. Hendi et ai. (1987)
reported that preoviposition and oviposition
period were 1-2days and 7-36days at 30±2°C
temperature and 60±5% relative humidity
while at 250C temperature and 65% relative
humidity the preoviposition and oviposition pe-
. .
159
"riod was 1-4±0.7 days and 16.7±3.2 days
respectively as reported by Salas and Mendoze
(1995). The findings under present investiga-
tion revealed that preoviposition and oviposi-
tion period (Table-2) was 1.12 and 2.32 days
at 27°C temperature and 77% relative humid-
ity. The average longevity of adult female was
also' more than the male during winter than
summer supports Butani and Jotwani (1984)
and Hendietai. (1987). Average duration of
life cycle under present investigation was ob-
served as 30.87 days which is in confirmity
with the findings of Hendi et al. (1987) where
average developmental cycle was recorded
34.5±1.4 days. Under present investigation
duration of life cycle was longer dUring Decem-
ber-January (40.00 days) at 21.13-25.60oC
temperature and 60.58% relative humidity and
lowest being during October-November (19.57
days) at 26.98-29.200<: temperature and
71.87% relative humidity. Duration of ijfe cycle
was found negatively correlated with tempera-
ture and relative humidity (Table-3).
From the foregoing discussion it is re-
vealed that under laboratory conditions dura-
tion of life cycle was shorter during October-
November indicating higher rate of biological
activity and being longer during December-
January because of low temperature. In Assam
adjusent to terai region of West Bengal higher
fly population on tomato was recorded 10th-
25th October (Borah and Bordoloi, 1998).
However, the duration of life.£yde was found
moderate during November-December and
February-March. Under field conditions the
crop was raised from December-May, there-
fore, the level of fly population was moderate
and the crop escaped the heavier attack due to
whi,te fly population during October-Novem-
ber resulting lower incidence of leaf curl virus
disease transmitted by white fly during the crop
growing period.
160 INDIAN JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH

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Butani, OK and Jotwani, M.G. (1984). Insects in Vegetables. Periodtcal Expert Book Agency, pp - 22-34.
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