Investigation of Varietal Characteristics of Tomato Plants for Determining the Diverse Preferences of Bemisia Tabaci (Aleyrodidea: Hemiptera)

The whitefly (Bemisia tabaci) is a well-known pest of vegetables and ornamental cash crops including tomato plant. Tomato plant disorders, in many instances, are related mostly with the silver leaf whitefly (Bemisia tabaci) feeding. It is well thought out that tomato plant is one of the most favorable host plants for the whitefly. Thus we aimed to study distinctive morphological characteristics of the leaves in seven selected tomato varieties including trichome density, trichome length, leaf lamina thickness and RGB value (red, green, blue) and HSB value (hue, saturation, brightness). Seven hybrid F1 tomato varieties such as TO-1057, TAI-1757, T‑1359, Advanta-1247, New Super, Sultan and Super were tested for the whitefly preferences. Our study suggests that T‑1359 is the highly preferred variety for the whitefly adults (5.32 ± 0.81) and nymphs (6.30 ± 1.13) population. In contrast, Advanta-1247 exhibits the lowest population of whitefly adults (2.71 ± 0.70) and nymphs (1.88 ± 0.43). This study systematically identifies the morphological characters of the tomato plants alongside the whitefly population. The study can be potentially extended to other crops as well.