The effect of season on the levels of predation by the ladybird <Emphasis Type="Italic">Serangium parcesetosum</Emphasis> Sicard (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) on the cotton whitefly <Emphasis Type="Italic">Bemisia tabaci</Emphasis> (Genn.) (Homoptera: Aleyrodidae), a serious pest of eggplants

The whitefly Bemisia tabaci is a serious pest of eggplants, especially those grown undercover in polytunnels and greenhouses. Due to increasing levels of resistance of B. tabaci to a wide range of insecticides, there is now an urgent need to explore other non-chemical methods of control. In this study, Serangium parcesetosum, a ladybird, was evaluated as a possible biological control agent of B. tabaci’s winter and spring populations which infests eggplants grown undercover in Turkey. It was found that in winter, S. parcesetosum failed to control B. tabaci, even when the ladybird population was augmented six times over the course of the experiment. This contrasted with that observed in spring when, with only one introduction of the ladybird, control of the pest was gained within 3 weeks after release. In spring, the B. tabaci population in the cages receiving two and four S. parcesetosum adult per plant showed 56 and 53% reduction, respectively. The percent reduction in B. tabaci population rose to 98.6 and 98.3% in both cages, respectively, by the end of experiment. It is suggested that release of S. parcesetosum against B. tabaci during spring months may be offered as an alternative solution to increase implementation of biologically based B. tabaci management. In winter other biological control agents are needed and these need to be further explored.