Development of leaf silvering in squash cultivars infested by silverleaf whitefly

The silverleaf whitefly Bemisia tabaci biotype B is one of the most harmful insect pests for agricultural and vegetable crops. Beside the direct damage, it transmits pathogenic virus and induces plant physiological disorders, such as the squash silverleaf disorder. In this research we evaluated the development of leaf silvering in squash cultivars submitted to artificial infestation of B. tabaci biotype B. An experiment was conducted under field conditions, in Campinas, São Paulo State, Brazil, during the season 2003-2004. The germplasm (Cucurbita spp.) comprised of seven cultivars of summer squash and nine of bush squash. The experiment used a complete randomized blocks design, with 16 treatments (cultivars) and five replications. Each plot consisted of two plants. The artificial infestation was done when the plants emitted the third pair of leaves, by transplanting soybean plants infested with silverleaf whitefly between the squash plots. The leaf silvering was evaluated every two or three days, using a rating scale varying from 1 (no symptom) to 5 (leaves completely silvered). The highest level (5.0) was observed in 'Baianinha', 'Golden Delight', 'Caravela' and 'Arlika', while 'Novita' (2.5), 'Atlas' (2.0) and 'Atlanta AG-303' (1.5) showed light symptoms, indicating that these have low sensibility to this physiological disorder.