Abstract

Whiteflies are fast flying, minute insects in the suborder Homoptera of the Hemiptera; family Aleyrodidae. They are reported to transmit viral diseases in various, economically important agricultural crops. Based on their small size (average wing spans of about 3 mm), whiteflies are difficult to count on plants or capture through insect nets and other tools. Therefore, we developed a feasible and effective method to capture adults and estimate the population size using a new device named “aleytrap”. The device took less time to count whiteflies and was found significantly superior over other conventional methods when used in tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.), chili (Capsicum anuum L.), brinjal (Solanum melongena L.), okra (Abelmuscus esculentus L. Moench), cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.), black gram (Vigna mungo L., Hepper) and green gram (Vigna radiata L., Wilczek).

Key words: Aleytrap, sampling, whitefly, adults, leaf turn method, capture.