This federal Project Grant award from the Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture (CFDA No. 10.329 - Crop Protection and Pest Management Competitive Grants Program) provides $323,989 to the University of Florida to develop and implement a push-pull technology system to mitigate the spread of whitefly infestation in vegetable crops like cucurbits and tomatoes.
The key products and services to be delivered under this 3-year grant include: 1) determining the most attractive eggplant varieties and characteristics that induce whitefly preference for use as a trap crop, 2) assessing the potential for back transmission of cucurbit viruses from the eggplant trap crop to squash, and 3) evaluating the interactions between limonene-scented kaolin, reflective mulch, and eggplant trap crops in controlling whiteflies under field conditions through 6 trials over 2 years in Florida. The University of Georgia Research Foundation will support specific components of this work, including virus transmission assays and establishing field trials.
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