Detection of Bemisia tabaci Mediterranean cryptic species on soybean in São Paulo and Paraná States (Brazil) and interaction of cowpea mild mottle virus with whiteflies

Abstract

Since the detection of Bemisia tabaci Middle East-Asia Minor 1 (MEAM1) species in Brazil in the early 1990s, this whitefly has been the predominant species and the main viral vector in the country. In this work, whiteflies were collected from commercial soybean fields near and far from greenhouses where Mediterranean (MED) species had previously been detected infesting vegetable crops. Results indicated that MEAM1 was the predominant whitefly species in soybean in most sampling sites, while MED was found colonizing soybean plants in open field conditions alone and/ or with MEAM1 in several places. Among the tested insects, MED species was mostly detected harbouring the facultative endosymbiont Hamiltonella. We also detected cowpea mild mottle virus (CPMMV) infecting soybean plants. Transmission assays demonstrated that MED species was more efficient transmitting CPMMV from beans to beans and from soybean to soybean plants than MEAM1, while MEAM1 was more efficient in transmitting the virus from soybean to bean than MED. Performance assays indicated that adult emergence of both species on CPMMV-infected soybean plants was higher when compared with the emergence on healthy plants. Moreover, nonviruliferous MED and MEAM1 adults preferred to settle more often on healthy plants, while viruliferous adults settled more often on CPMMV-infected soybean plants. As MED has already been found in soybean open fields in São Paulo and Paraná States, Brazil, and it is a good vector of CPMMV, we anticipate problems related to whitefly management and to increase in the incidence of the virus in soybean.

Survey of viruses and vectors in tomato plants, alternative hosts and weeds in the state of Santa Catarina, Brazil

“…This study also revealed that MED has already adapted to the open‐field cultivated crops in Santa Catarina and was probably being introduced with the domestic trading of ornamental plants because MED was first reported in an ornamental crop in Lages, Santa Catarina State (Moraes et al., 2018). MED is still adapting to Brazilian crops and has only been reported in cultivated crops in São Paulo and Paraná states as well as in the Federal District of Brasília (Bello et al., 2020a; Bello et al., 2021; Rodrigues et al., 2021).…”

“…Subsequently, the introduction of this whitefly species into the state of São Paulo was reported, and it was linked to infestations in ornamental plants (Moraes et al, 2017(Moraes et al, , 2018. This whitefly spread to different states targeting ornamental plants, but infestation of cultivated crops was only reported in São Paulo, Paraná and the Federal District of Brasilia (Bello et al, 2020a;Bello et al, 2021;Rodrigues et al, 2021).…”

Bemisia tabaci MEAM1 still remains the dominant species in open field crops in Brazil

“…In Brazil, MED spread across the southern region (Moraes et al, 2017), mainly on ornamentals and vegetables. MED was also reported in open fields on tomatoes (Bello et al, 2020) and soybean fields (Bello et al, 2021) in the Southern region, both events associated with population outbreaks and transmission of plant viruses. However, our results suggest that MED has not been established on open field crops in Brazil's Central and North regions.…”

Effect of the application of vermicompost and millicompost humic acids about the soybean microbiome under water restriction conditions

“…In unstressed leaves, it was observed that the application of vermicompost HA promoted an increase in the genera Rickettsia, Candidatus hamiltonella, and Candidatus portiera (Figure 4), recognized endosymbionts of whitefly, a pest that causes damage to soybean plants (Bello et al, 2021). Despite the presence of these taxa, the prevalence of these groups was not observed in all replicates, possibly being a punctual contamination of one of the biological replicates.…”