New Trap To Control Silverleaf
Whiteflies By David Elstein
May
30, 2002
A new inexpensive, environmentally friendly trap developed by
Agricultural Research Service scientists
in Phoenix, Ariz., captures pesky silverleaf whiteflies that cause millions of
dollars a year in damage to field and greenhouse crops.
The trap was developed by plant physiologist Chang-Chi Chu and
Thomas Henneberry, director of the ARS
Western Cotton Research Laboratory in Phoenix. The new trap is an
improvement on their CC Trap developed in 1996 to monitor whiteflies in the
field.
The new trap is known as a Light-Emitting Diode (LED) Equipped
CC (LED-CC) Trap. The original trap only captured enough whiteflies to be used
for monitoring whitefly population levels. But the new version captures so many
whiteflies--in the greenhouse and outdoors--that it has potential to be used in
control programs, not just for monitoring population levels.
The new trap contains a green LED light that has been used as a
pilot light in many types of electronic equipment and appliances. The
whiteflies are attracted to this light and then get caught in the trap, which
looks like an overturned plastic cup with a yellow ring on the bottom. The
LED-CC trap works especially well at night in attracting whiteflies. Also,
LED-CC traps are inexpensive and durable.
Chu points out that one of the major benefits of the LED-CC Trap
is that it is “whitefly parasite friendly”--unlike many other traps
on the market. That means the new trap will control whiteflies without harming
beneficial insects that attack whiteflies. The new trap also captures and kills
whiteflies without the use of pesticides.
The original CC trap, used for field monitoring, pinpointed
infestations so that farmers could then initiate control actions based on the
severity of the infestation. The original CC Trap was a definite improvement on
the popular yellow sticky card trap that caught other insects, as well as
dust.
Scientists and farmers are just starting to receive information
about the LED-CC Trap, but there is already high initial interest because of
the trap’s potential for controlling whiteflies.
ARS is the U.S. Department of
Agriculture’s chief scientific research agency. |
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