Tomato responses to the whitefly-transmitted TYLCV

Female whiteflies are used to inoculate the susceptible and resistant tomato genotypes as follows. Whiteflies are caged with TYLCV-infected tomato plants for a 48 h acquisition access period. Then, the viruliferous insects are collected and used to inoculate 20 plants of each genotype. The plants at their 4 leaf-stage are inoculated by caging ten viruliferous whiteflies with the youngest true leaf (more than 1 cm) of each plant, using leaf cages. Mock inoculations are conducted using the same number of non-viruliferous insects. After a 12 h inoculation access period (which ensures 100% infection), the insect cages are removed and the plants are treated with insecticide (imidacloprid). The plants are kept for 3 or 7 days in an insect-proof greenhouse, in natural daylight (12 h light/12 h dark). Keywords: Direct comparison, loop design 30 hybs total