ALEYREACHER : A NOVEL DEVICE FOR CAPTURING AND COUNTING WHITEFLY ADULTS INFESTING PAPAYA AND CASTOR.

摘要

An accurate per leaf counting of whitefly (Homoptera: Aleyrodidae), a polyphagous insect pest of papaya and castor, is required to assess the population fluctuation as well as the impact of insecticides under natural condtions. Since, the papaya and castor are the taller plants with with big leaf size, therfore counting the whitefly adults accurately is a hectic task. On the other hand, minuteness in size and behaviorally upward as well as orientation towards the source of light are the major shortcomings in their counting and capturing on papaya and castor. In present invention, a new device (aleyreacher) has been fabricated, that will enable an accurate capturing and counting the whitefly infesting papaya and castor leaves. The aleyreacher when captures a single leaf either of papaya or castor, force all the whitefly adults resting on undersurface of the leaf to approach the source of light (counting desk). These whitefly adults clusters underneath the counting desk and becomes easily visible for the counting. Additionally, the the whiteflies can also be captured by using aspirator through access window.