Effects of different melon genotypes on the whitefly Bemisia tabaci

Abstract: In the context of Integrated Pest Management (IPM), plant resistance is a useful
method to combat crop arthropod pests. However, we still have limited data on the effects of
different cultivars/genotypes of several crop species against herbivores, either these are
commercially available or not. In that sense, melon is such crop species for which we know
relatively little. Within this study, we assessed the effects of commercial melon cultivars as
well as genotypes from the national genebank for their resistance to the whitefly Bemisia tabaci, a key pest in melon and other numerous crops. We conducted performance experiments to study the effects of the different melon genotypes on the survival and egg number of the whitefly, as well as host preference experiments to choose the most promising (i. e., resistant) ones. We also performed long-term performance experiments, i. e., lasting for approx. one month after infestation of the plants with the whiteflies, to assess melon resistance effects on the whitefly population. Our results are promising, depicting at least two genotypes, one commercial and one genotype from the national genebank, exerting whitefly resistance. Further experiments will explore the underlying mechanisms of plant resistance to B. tabaci as well as assess the resistance recorded in field experiments.