Protocol for Temperature Toxicity Investigation on Whitefly <i>Bemisia tabaci</i> (Gennadius)

Abstract

A cost-effective laboratory protocol was perfected for investigating temperature toxicity against whitefly Bemisia tabaci (Genn.) on tomato. Understanding temperature toxicity relationship will aid in strategization of pest management. The experiments conducted to develop the current protocol used B. tabaci Asia II-1 as test insect. Essentially this protocol consist of three steps which are: (1) Temperature incubation of test insects: includes three hour starvation period and temperature treatment of B. tabaci; (2) Preparatory steps of leaf-dip bioassay: suggests use of agar cube method (reduces agar usage by 70%) to maintain green and turgid test leaves during post-exposure period of bioassay; (3) Release of temperature treated insects and mortality counting: test insect release, securing petri plates, recording observations, etc. all are deliberated in detail. This protocol facilitates economical, convenient and easy-to-handle experimentation to study temperature toxicity relationship in B. tabaci.