Screening of Brinjal germplasm against whitefly, Bemisia tabaci Genn. and aphid, Aphis gossypii Glover in alluvial zone of West Bengal

A field experiment was carried out during kharif season of 2012 and 2013 to screen the brinjal genotypes against whitefly, Bemisia tabaci and aphid, Aphis gossypii. All the seven brinjal germplasms were infested by aleurodid with low to moderate damage to the crop. The peak incidence was recorded during August of both years of study. All the germplasms were more or less equally infested by this aleurodid, except chhuli makra and sada jhuri. In chhuli makra and sada jhuri, the infestation level of the aleurodid was quite lower than other germplasms and hence both the brinjal germplasm i.e. chhuli makra and sada jhuri can be termed as less susceptible / tolerant to this aleurodid. None of the brinjal germplasms showed complete resistance to aphid infestation. The germplasm chhuli makra and L-13 (sourava) were highly susceptible to aphid, while kalo jhuri, muktakeshi and sada jhuri were moderately susceptible but pata kanta and soyla were less susceptible or tolerant to aphid.