Effectiveness of sticky trap designs and colours in trapping alate whitefly, Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius) (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae).

Abstract

A study to determine the effectiveness of sticky trap designs with different colours for trapping alate whitefly (WF), Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius) (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae) was carried out at MARDI Station, Jalan Kebun, in Klang, Malaysia from September 2004 to August 2005. Trap designs (cylindrical, horizontal, and vertical), colours (yellow, blue, green, red, white and black) and time (sampling dates) gave significantly (P<0.05) different effectiveness of trapping the alate WF, as well as indication of its population abundance in the field. Both vertical and cylindrical traps were the most effective traps as significantly (p<0.05) higher numbers of alate WF caught on these traps than on traps of other designs. Meanwhile, yellow was the most attractive colour to alate WF, regardless of the trap design as it had the highest number of alates caught compared to the other colours. Comparatively, the vertical yellow trap was the most attractive and efficient trap to use in monitoring WF.