Determination the relationships between Bemisia tabaci (Hemiptera:Aleyrodidae) and its parasitoids Eretmocerus mundus and Encarsia lutea (Hymenoptera:Aphelinidae) on different host plants in Çukurova region

Populations of Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius) (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae) and its parasitism status were monitored on different host-plants both in an experiments and farmers? fields in Çukurova Region in 2008 and 2009. Samples were taken from cotton, cucumber, eggplant and soybean and counted in the laboratory. Each year, lower numbers of B. tabaci occurred in early July and increased to higher densities in August and September. Likewise, low parasitism rates of Eretmocerus mundus Mercet and Encarsia lutea (Masi) (Hymenoptera: Aphelinidae) occurred in July and peaked in August and September. Er. mundus was observed to be more efficient on cotton, eggplant and soybean, but less so on cucumber in farmers? fields. The parasitism rates of Er. mundus on all host-plants were higher than those of En. lutea in farmers? fields, but less on soybean and cotton in the experiments which done in Balcalı at the same time. The highest parasitism rate of Er. mundus was found on soybean (73.94 %) in the Alihocalı district and that of En. lutea was on eggplant (24.3 %) in the Bahçe district in 2008. In 2009 the highest parasitism rate of Er. mundus was found on cotton (50 %) in the Alihocalı district and that of En. lutea was found on eggplant (20 %) in the same district. For more confirmation of the results, cage experiments were carried out in semi-controlled greenhouses located at Çukurova University, Agricultural Faculty, Department of Plant Protection research areas. Five experiments were set up as free-choice and non-choice tests. In free-choice test, the highest parasitism rate of Er. mundus was found 53.4% on cucumber plants and in non-choice test was found 26.6% on cotton plants. While the highest parasitism rates of En. lutea in free-choice test were found 65.1 % and 63.6 % on soybean and cotton, respectively, and in non-choice test was found 36 % on soybean. These results confirmed that Er. mundus and En. lutea are important parasitoids of B. tabaci in the Çukurova Region.