The impact of the silverleaf whitefly, Bemisia argentifolii Bellows and Perring [Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius) Biotype B.] on growth and production of soybean Ndiaye Mbaye1, Entomologist, Doumma A.2 1National Plant Protection Service, POB: 20054, Thiaroye, Dakar, Km 15, Route de Rufisque, Republic of Senegal. 2University AM of Niamey, Faculty of Science, POB 10662, Niamey, Niger. Abstract Soybean seedlings at two fully expanded leaves were artificially infested with Bemisia argentifolii Bellows and Perring also commonly called B. tabaci (Gennadius) biotype B. at densities of 0 (control), 5, 10, 20, 40, 80 and 160 adults per plant and confined in net cages in a greenhouse between 20 – 32°C. The relative humidity ranged between 68 – 81.5%. Soybean pod weights on the mature plants were significantly greater (p<0.05) on the uninfested controls compared to the infested treatments, but no significant differences were found among any of the infested treatments. Results from regression analyses indicated that pod weight and root dry weight were significant and negatively correlated to the infestation levels and the severity of the sooty mold. Based on the regression analyses, a 36.23% loss in pod weight was predicted with an infestation density of five B. argentifolii adults resulting in a pod weight of 18.55 g compared with the control pod weight of 29.09g. These results demonstrate that B. argentifolii could cause significant losses to soybean production and quality at an early stage of the crop even at low infestation level. At the infestation with 20 adults of the whiteflies where more pods were produced, the seeds were smaller with a reduced weight when compared with those with none or slight infestation. Top Key words Bemisia Glgentifolii, Bemisia fabaci, soybean. Top |