Management of whitefly with botanical and chemical products in tomato, in Estelí, Nicaragua

Abstract

The whitefly (Bemisia tabaco, a species of sternorrhine hemiptera of the family Aleyrodidae) and geminiviruses are the main agents of severe phytosanitary damage to tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) producers in the municipality of Estelí. This pest causes great economic losses, has reduced yields and affects fruit quality, which incurs higher production costs. Based on this problem in the municipality of Estelí, a quantitative study of the experimental type was conducted from October 8th to December 11th, 2018, with the objective of evaluating chemical and botanical alternatives for the management of the whitefly-Geminivirus complex, for this an experiment was established using a randomized complete block design (BCA), with six treatments; T1. Evisect®, T2. Epingle®, T3. Kabonim®, T4. Savon®, T5. Quamar/Bioquamar® and T6. Control (water), the Orna variety was used in this study. The variables evaluated were: number of Bemisia tabaci per plant, incidence and severity of virosis, tomato yield in kg/ha¹ of the treatments evaluated, economic analysis (partial). According to the results, the treatments with the lowest percentage of Bemisia tabaci damage per plant were: Savon®, Epingle®, with respect to incidence and severity of virosis, the treatments with the best results were: Savon®, Quamar® and Kabonim®. The economic analysis (partial) carried out determined that the best yields were Epingle® with 44,057.77 kg/ha¹ and Kabonim® with 34,469.70 kg/ha¹.