Management of Tomato Fruit Borer

Dr. Deepali Tewari, GBPUAT

---

Tomato Fruit Borer [Helicoverpa armigera]

It is a major pest of tomato widely distributed in tropics, subtropics and warmer temperate regions of the world.

About the pest and damage:

• Eggs are laid singly, generally on leaves and flowers in the upper canopy of the plant. A female lays approximately 500 eggs, on hatching the young caterpillars feed on tender foliage, advance stage caterpillars attack the fruits. One caterpillar is capable of destroying 2-8 fruits.
• Damaging stage is larvae. Young larvae of fruit borer feed on the foliage and late larval instars bore inside the fruits. Such fruits are not preferred by consumers.
• The holes made on the fruits are circular and the larva feed on keeping the head portion only inside the hole.
• Infestation is more common on green fruits and as acidity increases preference decreases gradually.

Management

1. Use of marigold as a trap crop in tight bud stage also attracts away the adults from infesting tomato plants.
2. Setting up light traps to attract and kill the adult moths.
3. Setting up of pheromone traps at 12 /hectare.
4. Collecting and destroying the damaged fruits.
5. Spray 5% neem seed kernel extract to kill early stages larvae Placement of 15-20 bird perches (T shaped) per ha helps in inviting insectivorous birds.
6. Use of NPV @ 250 LE/ha along with juggary @ 20 g/l when sprayed at 10 days interval also given protection against fruit borer.
7. Releasing of egg parasitoid Trichogramma chilonis six times at 50,000/hectare/week and the first release coinciding with the flowering time.
8. In general, fruit borer infestation is high during initials harvests. In later stages, spraying can be done at extended intervals. Spray interval also depends on pest intensity, variety grown and number of sprays expected.
9. Application of endosulfan @ 700 g ai/ha, the first spray should coincide with appearance of eggs at flowering (27 days after planting) and followed by sprays at either 10 or 15 days interval gives effective control of fruit borer.

---

 

Formatted and uploaded by: Shiwani Bhatnagar