Effect of Different Control Methods on the Population of Sugarcane Whitefly (Aleurolobus Barodensis Mask.)

Abstract

The sugarcane whitefly Aleurolobus barodensis Mask has become one of the serious threats to the sugarcane crop in Sindh province and other parts of the sugarcane growing areas. Experiment was conducted on integration of different control methods i.e. cultural, biological, yellow sticky traps and chemical against sugarcane whitefly during February 2016 at PARC-NSTHRI, Thatta, experimental field. The result revealed that lowest number of whitefly (0.38 nymphs + puparia per 2 per leaf) with highest % mortality (79.89) was recorded in T11 (cultural control + biological control + chemical control), followed by T10 (Cultural control + Biological control + Yellow sticky traps) in which recorded 0.48 nymphs + puparia with 74.60% mortality. The next best treatment was T7 (cultural control + chemical control) in which recorded 0.56 nymphs + puparia per 2 per leaf 70.37%, T5 (cultural control + Biological control) in which recorded 0.59 nymphs + puparia per 2 per leaf 63.49% and T6 (cultural control + Yellow sticky traps) in which recorded 0.71 nymphs + puparia per 2 per leaf 62.43%.The intermediate treatment was T9 (Biological control + Chemical control) in which recorded 0.78 nymphs + puparia with 58.73% mortality, followed by T4 (Chemical control) in which recorded 0.84 nymphs + puparia 55.56% mortality and T1 (Cultural control) in which recorded 0.93 nymphs + puparia with 50.79%. However, there is no significant difference between treatments i.e., T1 and T8, T2 and T3 and T6 and T9. The results indicated that, all control methods significantly reduce whitefly infestation and improve cane and sugar yield over control treatment.