Botanical insecticides and mineral oils synergize toxicity of imidacloprid against Bemisia tabaci (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae)

Management of Bemisia tabaci requires the use of multiple control techniques in addition to pesticides, and plant-derived essential oils and mineral oils are one of the control options. The evaluation of new chemistry synthetic insecticide (imidacloprid) mix with jojoba oil or KZ oil, to enhance its synergistic efficacy against whitefly (B. tabaci) in laboratory trails as well as evaluated in experimental field plots at Menia El-Kameh, El-Sharkia Governorate, Egypt. The influence of these compounds and their mixtures on natural predators and crop yield were simultaneously investigated. Based on laboratory tests, synergistic action was observed in the whitefly by a combination of imidacloprid with jojoba oil or KZ oil approximately 12 and 40 times more respectively than the imidacloprid alone, interestingly, the combination of the insecticide with the mineral oil was more toxic than the essential oil. Similar trend was also recorded for these mixtures at sublethal dose against biological aspects of whitefly, it has significantly reduced development and fecundity. Infield application, all tested compounds, and mixtures caused a significant decrease in the whitefly populations; the mixtures gave more than 75% control over the whitefly, and there were differences in treatment over the abundance of predators as more predators were recorded within the mixtures with significantly higher yields than those compounds alone or the untreated control. Mixtures treatment also resulted in the longest residual effect under field conditions.