Abstract:
Whitefly is a worldwide pest causing yield loss and economic injury
in many crop species including brinjal plants. The integrated control
concept emphasizes the importance of biological control for pest
suppression in agricultural systems. Therefore, this study was directed
at developing biological control of whiteflies by identifying for native
parasitoids of whiteflies on brinjal plants at the Agronomy farm, Eastern
University of Sri Lanka. For that, brinjal leaves infested with whitefly
nymphs were collected from the Agronomy farm, Eastern University
of Sri Lanka and cultured in a humidity-controlled container at
Agricultural Biology Laboratory until the parasitoids’ emergence. Then,
the emerged parasitoids were identified to species level based on their
morphological characteristics using the guidelines of Schmidt et al.
(2001) and the browsed images from online. Encarsia cibcensis Lopez
Avila and Eretmocerus californicus were the parasitoids identified from
the research site. Among the identified parasitoids, Encarsia cibcensis
Lopez Avila were more abundant than Eretmocerus californicus at the
research site.
