Effect of Buprofezin and Isaria fumosorosea Against Rugose Spiraling Whitefly, 2015 Open Access

The objective of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of selected insecticides alone or in combination against Rugose spiraling whitefly (RSW), a new invasive pest of ornamental in Florida. The trial was conducted on an ornamental host, white bird of paradise under natural field condition at U.S. Horticultural Research Laboratory. Young host plants in three gallons plastic pots were bought from a local commercial nursery in Vero Beach, FL, and naturally infested with the RSW under greenhouse conditions (26 ± 3 °C and 75–80% RH). Host plants were watered as needed and fertilized using granular formula. Once plants were infested with RSW and overlapping generations were observed, plants were moved outdoors into 6 × 6 × 6 ft nylon-mesh cages. The trial was setup in a completely randomized design with five replications. Treatment plots consisted of four RSW infested plants; applications were made on three plants and one was left untreated as a persistence source of insects to evaluate the residual activity of the insecticides. Treatments were applied curatively using a small hand held sprayer delivering 65.5 ml m ² at 211 kPa. Treatments were evaluated at weekly interval by collecting five leaf discs (dia. 1.1 cm) per plot and carefully inspecting, under a dissecting microscope at 12× magnification. Count data were subjected to square root transformation prior to conducting the ANOVA and mean separation procedure. The data presented are the untransformed means. Means separations was performed using the Tukey’s HSD test at p  < 0.05.

RSW population varied greatly; however, a significant reduction in whitefly number was observed in all the treatments compared to check. Overall, Talus alone and its combination with PFR was found to be most effective treatment for control of RSW eggs, early instars, and late instars. The combination of Talus and PFR significantly suppressed RSW life stages soon after application and provided 63–97% reduction in eggs ( Table 1 ), 52–99% early instars ( Table 2 ), and 61–93% in late instars ( Table 3 ) during 10-wk period. Talus alone also provided a significant reduction in RSW eggs (WAT 5), early instars (WAT 8), and late instars (WAT 9) compared to control. PFR alone was found to be least effective against eggs (0–90%), early instars (41–89%), and late instars (0–61%) among all the insecticides tested. No phytotoxicity symptoms were observed following any of the insecticide treatments. This research was supported by the Floriculture and Nursery Research Initiative.

Author notes