Evaluation of the efficiency of some plant extracts and biological agents againt whitefly Bemisia tabaci on eggplant plant Solanum melongena

Abstract

This study was carried out to evaluate the efficiency of some aqueous extracts of the plant’s sweet basil Ocimum basilicum, shrubby Lantana camara, and Eucalyptus camaldulensis, and the two biological fungi Beauveria bassiana and Trichoderma viride against the whitefly insect Bemisia tabaci. This experiment was implemented at the Agricultural Research and Experimental Station associated with the College of Agriculture, University of Basrah. The results of the laboratory experiment showed the superiority of the aqueous extract of O.basilium, as it achieved a mortality percentage of 45.36%, followed by the aqueous extract of shrubby L.camara with a mortality percentage of 41.38%, while the aqueous extract of E.camaldulensis  achieved a mortality percentage of 37.36%. As for the biological fungi, the fungus B.bassiana achieved the highest mortality percentage, which reached 47.68%, and it was significantly superior to the biological fungus T.viride, as the mortality percentage reached 42.71%. As for the field experiment, the aqueous extract of sweet basil achieved a relative efficiency of 41.66%, which was superior to the extracts of shrubby lantana and eucalyptus, as the relative efficiency on nymphs reached 36.18 and 33.42%, respectively. As for the biological fungi, the biological fungus B. bassiana achieved a relative efficiency of 36.77%, which differed significantly from the biological fungus T. viride, as it achieved a relative efficiency of 31.86%.