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Department of Entomology, S.V. Agricultural College, ANGRAU, Tirupati-517 502.
Castor (Ricinus communis) is a perennial shrub and a vital industrial non-edible oilseed crop in India. The castor whitefly, is a polyphagous tropical insect pest, feeds undersurface of leaves. Among twenty-five castor genotypes evaluated for morphological host plant traits, viz., bloom, stem color, leaf thickness, and chlorophyll content against whitefly, nine genotypes showed resistant reaction, seven were moderately resistant, six moderately susceptible and three genotypes showed susceptible reaction. The lowest mean nymphal and pupal population of whitefly was observed in the genotypes, RG-2466 (20.69 plant-1) followed by ACH-2008 (20.74 plant-1), whereas the highest whitefly population was observed in YRCH-1 (409.98 plant-1) followed by M-574 (407.40 plant-1). The castor genotypes with zero and single bloom were found to be resistant to whitefly, while the genotypes with triple bloom showed susceptible reaction. A significant negative correlation was observed between chlorophyll content and whitefly population in different castor genotypes, whereas, non-significant negative correlation observed between stem color, leaf thickness and whitefly population.
KEYWORDS: Castor, Whitefly, Bloom, Leaf thickness, Chlorophyll content.