Correlation of conducive environmental conditions for the development of whitefly,Bemisia Tabaci population in different tomato genotypes

Relationship of whitefly (bemisia tabaci) population and environmental conditions were studied on five tomato cultivars. environmental conditions had a significant contribution in development of whitely population during two years of study. temperature and relative humidity contributed towards the whitefly population buildup. the whitefly population increased with increased in temperature while decreased with the decrease in relative humidity. the contribution of maximum temperature was explained by linear regression which showed 83 to 91% variability in whitefly development. the minimum temperature explained 75 to 85% whitefly population variability. relative humidity exerted 78 to 85 percent contribution in the whitefly population development. the linear regression could not explain the contribution of rainfall and wind speed. copyright 2015 zoological society of pakistan.