Whitefly and whitefly-borne viruses in the tropics : Building a ... - cgiar

CHAPTER 3.3
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Guatemala
Introduction
Geographical context
Of the seven countries that comprise
the isthmus of Central America,
Guatemala is physically and culturally
the most diverse. The highlands of the
southern half of Guatemala descend
southward to the Pacific Coast to form
the fertile “Piedmont” or “Coffee Belt”
(500-1500 m above sea level) and the
hot, grass- and forest-covered lowlands
known as “The Coast” (0-500 m). The
northern regions of Guatemala are
tropical lowlands covered by rain forest
and scattered savannahs, which are
only sparsely populated (West and
Augelli, 1977). However, it is the
south-eastern region of the country
(“El Oriente”), formed by low- and midaltitude
(200-1000 m) valleys, which
has suffered the worst attacks from the
whitefly Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius)
and different begomoviruses
transmitted by this whitefly species.
This region has drastically changed its
traditional agricultural environment to
join the boom in export crops, thus
* Centro Internacional de Agricultura Tropical
(CIAT), Cali, Colombia.
** Proyecto Regional de Frijol para Centro
América, México y el Caribe (PROFRIJOL),
Guatemala City, Guatemala.
*** Universidad del Valle, Guatemala City,
Guatemala.
ψ Instituto de Ciencia y Tecnología Agrícolas
(ICTA), Guatemala City, Guatemala.
Whiteflies and Whitefly-borne Viruses in the Tropics
Francisco Morales*, Abelardo Viana**,
Margarita Palmieri***, Mónica Orozco***
and René Ruano ψ
creating complex and fragile cropping
systems. Figure 1 shows the main
agricultural regions affected by
whitefly-transmitted begomoviruses.
Guatemala
Escuintla
Baja Verapaz
El Progreso
Jalapa
Santa
Rosa
Zacapa
Jutiapa
Figure 1. The main agricultural regions
affected by whitefly-transmitted
begomoviruses, Guatemala.
The emergence of Bemisia
tabaci as a pest and virus
vector
The civil war in the United States in the
1860s created an increased demand for
cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.). Soon,
cotton produced in the Pacific lowlands
of the country comprised 20% of
Guatemala’s exports. This species was
probably one of the first commercially
cultivated hosts of the whitefly
B. tabaci. A second boom of cotton
production took place in the 1950s and