The whitefly (Bemisia tabaci) causes damage in the soybean crop by sucking the plant sap, transmission of viruses and promoting sooty mold that affect the growing and the soybean production. The goal of this work was to evaluate the direct damage of the whitefly, and the vertical nymph distribution, on soybean cultivars under greenhouse conditions. The experimental design was randomized blocks with 10 cultivars in a 10 x 2 factorial scheme (infestation and without infestation) and 4 replications. Counts were made of the number of eggs and nymphs in the upper, middle and lower third of the plants. The productive indices were: number of pods per plant and grains per pod, weight of 100 grains, and weight of 2 plants. The data were submitted to variance analysis and F test (α < 0.05), and the means were compared by Tukey test at 5% probability, obtaining the least significant difference between treatments. The cultivars were not affected by the B. tabaci attack at the infestations levels registered. CD 219 RR was the cultivar most infested by the whitefly nymphs. For better efficiency and use of time in the evaluations, in greenhouse studies it is suggested that they be carried out in the upper and middle thirds of the soybean plants.
Aleyrodidae; Glycine max; biotype B; sampling; resistance