Evaluation of insecticidal properties of botanicals for sustainable management of sucking pests of horticultural crops

Aphids, thrips, whiteflies, mealy bugs and mites could cause significant yield losses in horticultural crops. Many synthetic chemicals highly hazardous to non-target organisms and the environment are in use in their management. Botanicals are ideal for safe sustainable pest management by keeping synthetic chemical use at a minimum. We studied the insecticidal properties of three botanicals viz., Annona squamosa, Ricinus communis and Sapindus mukorossi seed extracts against sucking pests viz., aphids (Aphis gossypii and Aphis craccivora) on okra (Abelmoschus esculentus) and bittergourd (Momordica charantia), thrips (Scirtothrips dorsalis) on chilli (Capsicum frutescens), whiteflies (Bemisia tabaci) on eggplant (Solanum melongena), mealy bugs (Maconellicoccus hirsutus) on betel vine (Piper betle) and mites (Tetranychus urticae) on eggplant (Solanum melongena) under laboratory conditions. The bioassay showed that A. squamosa seed extract has potent insecticidal properties on all sucking pests, except T. urticae. Though S. mukorossi seed extract exhibited no insecticidal property, had a significant acaricidal property. A. squamosa and S. mukorossi seed extracts will therefore be additional botanicals for use in organic farming for managing the sucking pests effectively.     

The incidence of sweet potato virus disease and virus resistance of sweet potato grown in Uganda

Sweet potato virus disease (SPVD) was common (25–30% average incidences), and farmers recognised it as an important disease, in sweet potato crops in southern Mpigi, Masaka and Rakai Districts in Uganda, but SPVD was rare in Soroti and Tororo Districts. Whiteflies, which are the vector of sweet potato chlorotic stunt crinivirus (SPCSV) a component cause of SPVD, were correspondingly common on sweet potato crops in Mpigi and rare on crops in Tororo. However, aphids, which are the vectors of sweet potato feathery mottle potyvirus (SPFMV), the other component cause of SPVD, were not found colonising sweet potato crops, and itinerant alate aphids may be the means of transmission. Different sweet potato cultivars were predominant in the different districts surveyed and four local cultivars obtained from Kanoni in S. Mpigi, where whiteflies and SPVD were common, were more resistant to SPVD than four cultivars from Busia in Tororo District, where whiteflies and SPVD were rare. However, nationally released cultivars were even more resistant than the local cultivars from Kanoni. Yield results and interviews with farmers indicated that farmers in S. Mpigi were making compromises in their choice of cultivars to grow, some key factors being SPVD susceptibility, and the yield, taste, and marketability, duration of harvest and in-ground storability of the storage roots. These compromises need to be included in an assessment of yield losses attributable to SPVD.     

A labor-saving marking and sampling technique for mark-release-recapture research

A marking and recapture sampling method was developed that shows promise for studying the dispersal behavior of small and delicate arthropods. Adult sweetpotato whiteflies, Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius) (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae), were externally marked with a liquid fluorophore that glows brightly under ultraviolet (UV) light. Then, a series of simulated recapture tests on fluorophore-marked whiteflies using yellow sticky cards were conducted. The marked whiteflies captured on the sticky cards were detected by direct visual inspection of photographs taken of the cards under white light and UV light. Whitefly counts taken under white and UV light were almost identical, implying high marking efficacy and visual distinctiveness. These results suggest that this fluorophore marking and sampling method could eliminate the tedious task of removing specimens from sticky cards and examining them individually for the presence of a mark.     

Detection and differentiation of whitefly-transmitted geminiviruses in plants and vector insects by the polymerase chain reaction with degenerate primers

Degenerate oligonucleotide primers, designed for amplification of an approx. 500 bp fragment of DNA-A of five well characterised whitefly-transmitted geminiviruses, were used in the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to detect known or putative geminiviruses infecting seven plant species and originally obtained from Africa, India, America or Europe. Although nucleotide sequences are published for only four of the viruses, all 13 were detected. Six of the viruses were also detected in single viruliferous whiteflies (Bemisia tabaci). Virus was detected both in fresh B. tabaci and in specimens that were frozen and dried before being dispatched from their country of origin. Individual viruses could be distinguished by the patterns of DNA fragments obtained by the action of restriction endonucleases on the PCR products. This approach also allowed six virus isolates from leaf curl-affected tomato to be assigned to four country-specific forms.