Common bean resistance expression to whitefly in winter and rainy seasons in Brazil

Abstract

Whitefly Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius) biotype B is the major pest of common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) in Brazil and other countries. Host plant resistance is one of the cornerstones of Integrated Pest Management (IPM), and assessment of cultivars for insect resistance is fundamental to provide farmers options for pest control. This study evaluated common bean resistance to whitefly in the winter and rainy seasons in Jaboticabal, Brazil, and correlated the infestation with climatic factors. The plant part and development period of common bean that are more susceptible to whitefly infestation were also examined for potential use in IPM. Field experiments were carried out using 18 and 19 commercial cultivars in the winter and rainy seasons, respectively. Whitefly eggs, nymphs, and adults in the upper part and lower part of plants were sampled from 25 to 60 days after emergence (DAE). Cultivars IAC-Una and IAC-Eldorado had less oviposition and the former also showed lower adult infestation in the winter season. In the rainy season, cultivars IAPAR-81 and Guará had a smaller number of eggs, whereas IAC-Centauro was less infested by nymphs. The number of nymphs and adults was similar among cultivars in the winter and rainy seasons, respectively. The upper part of plants had a greater number of eggs and adults, while, the lower part harbored larger numbers of nymphs. Common bean was more susceptible to whitefly at 25-32 DAE in both seasons. These results add useful information to IPM of whitefly in common bean.

Whitefly-tolerant transgenic common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) line

“…Chemical control of the insect population has been the most used control method, although alternatives have been developed, such as biological control and virus resistant common bean cultivars ( Faria et al, 2016 ; Souza et al, 2018 ; Sani et al, 2020 ; Silva et al, 2022 ). Common bean cultivars with tolerance to the whitefly through antixenosis have been reported, resulting in reduced number of eggs, nymphs and adults sitting on the plants, in field assays ( Silva et al, 2014 , 2019 ; Hoshino et al, 2017 ; Jesus et al, 2021 ). In spite of the identification of these sources of tolerance in the common bean germplasm, no common bean cultivar has been developed or registered for resistance to the whitefly, to date.…”

“…Our team has developed the first transgenic common bean cultivar in the world, resistant to BGMV, which has recently been made commercially available. Although some common bean cultivars have been reported to present tolerance to the whitefly through antixenosis (Silva et al, 2014(Silva et al, , 2019Hoshino et al, 2017;Jesus et al, 2021), using interfering RNA (RNAi) to silence important genes in the insect is also a promising strategy, because it can be more specific to the target insect and generally leads to high mortality. Silencing the insect vATPase gene (Bt-vATPase), using RNAi in Hemipteran insects has proven to reduce survival and to interfere in the development of juvenile stages, including B. tabaci 10.3389/fpls.2022.984804 Frontiers in Plant Science 03 frontiersin.org (Thakur et al, 2014;Ibrahim et al, 2017).…”

Bemisia tabaci on Vegetables in the Southern United States: Incidence, Impact, and Management

“…Firstly, B. tabaci nymphs and adults remove sap from phloem in plant stems and leaves [59,60]. Feeding damage caused by large populations may turn leaves yellow and dry, or even cause them to fall off plants [14].…”

Population Dynamics of Insect Pests and Beneficials on Different Snap Bean Cultivars

“…Therefore, we determined the population dynamics of pollinators and natural enemies on the above 24 snap bean cultivars. Additionally, because the population dynamics of insects could be affected by environmental factors [ 13 , 30 , 31 , 32 ], correlations between the populations of insects and climatic factors were examined.…”