Publication

Abstract : The hemipteran pest silverleaf whitefly,Bemisia tabaci(Gennadius) (Aleyrodidae), is of high eco-nomic importance, as it infests a wide range of agricultural and horticultural crops. The pest isregarded as a cryptic species complex. In the present study, the cryptic species composition and vir-uliferous status ofB. tabaciin association with yellow mosaic disease (YMD), caused byMungbeanyellow mosaic virus(MYMV), in blackgram [Vigna mungo(L.) Hepper (Fabaceae)], were assessedover three cropping seasons, viz.,Rabi,summer,andKharif, at three locations in Tamil Nadu, India.This study identified three crypticB. tabacispecies: (1) Asia I, (2) Asia II-5, and (3) Asia II-8. Asia II-8 was the dominant species in all three seasons across locations. Despite the absence of YMDsymptoms in many plants, up to 73% of whiteflies sampled from YMD-resistant and susceptibleblackgram cultivars were MYMV-viruliferous. This suggests that the YMD incidence of blackgramdoes not directly associate with viruliferous whitefly populations in the field