Protecting Crops From Pests Using Optinet® Screens and Chromatinet® Shading Nets

Management of Bemisia tabaci Whiteflies

“…When compared to ordinary 50 mesh screens, the UV-absorbing screens improved inhibition of whitefly penetration and spread of TYLCV by a factor of 4 (Antignus et al 1998). These results were later confirmed by others (Diaz and Fereres 2007;Ben-Yakir et al 2008;Legarrea et al 2010). …”

Optical Manipulations: An Advance Approach for Reducing Sucking Insect Pests

“…The average hole size for the Black, Red, Pearl and Yellow nets are 7 × 9, 5 × 7, 4 × 7 and 4 × 6 mm, respectively. We also found that white fl ies landed on the Yellow net 20-40 times more often than on the other nets (Ben-Yakir et al 2008a ; Of fi r unpublished). Despite that, the infestation levels of aphids and white fl ies in tunnels covered by either the Yellow or Pearl nets were consistently two-to threefolds lower than in tunnels covered by the Black or Red nets.…”

“…Growing lettuce under UV-blocking materials decreased aphid density and the spread of aphid-transmitted viruses (Legarrea et al 2012 ) . Ben-Yakir et al ( 2008a ) reported that covering walk-in tunnels with OptiNet ® reduced (three-to ninefolds) thrips infestations (mainly T. tabaci ) compare with standard net of the same density. Preliminary results indicate that covering growing tunnels with UV-blocking plastic and OptiNet ® signi fi cantly reduced the invasion by the chilli thrips as well (Ben-Yakir et al 2012 ).…”

“…Recent studies have demonstrated that growing vegetables, fruits and ornamental crops under Red, Yellow, Blue, Grey and Pearl shading nets (ChromatiNets™, Polysack Plastics Industries, Nir-Yitzhak, Israel, http://www.polysack.com/index.php?page_id=46 ) increases their yields and improves their quality (Shahak et al 2008 ) . Preliminary studies indicated that the Yellow and Pearl nets protected crops from aphids and white fl ies but not from thrips (Ben-Yakir et al 2008a ;Shahak et al 2009 ) . The protection from aphids and white fl ies and the viral diseases that they transmit to vegetable crops was studied from 2006 to 2010 (Ben-Yakir et al 2012 ).…”

Physical Control: An Important Tool in Pest Management Programs

“…In conjunction with the studies on plants, entomologists have started looking at the effects of the colored shade nets on insect pest populations. Ben-Yakir et al (2008) tested the landing of thrips and whiteflies on black, red, yellow and blue nets covering chives or cotton plants. They found that covering plants with yellow netting protected plants from whitefly infestation; the pest landed on the net but did not penetrate the nets to reach the plants.…”