Documentation of different pests and their natural enemies on tomato

Abstract

Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) is one of the most popular and widely grown vegetable crop of both tropicsand subtropics of the world. Itis a member of the family Solanaceae. Low tomato yields have been ascribed to a variety ofissues, including poor seed quality, pest infestations and severe weather conditions. The field study conducted in MainAgriculture Research Station, Dharwad revealed that, there are totally 8 species of pests, 3 species of coccinellids and 10different species of spiders were recorded in tomato ecosystem. The peak incidence of aphid, leafhopper, whitefly, thripsand mites was observed during last week of January, second week of January, first week of March, last week of Februaryand third week of February, respectively. The peak incidence of leaf miner, fruit borer and pinworm was observed duringlast week of February, second week of March and third week of February, respectively. Correlation coefficient betweendifferent weather parameters and population of tomato pests revealed that, maximum temperature recorded significantpositive correlation with population of whitefly, thrips, mites, leafminer, fruit borer and pinworm but negatively correlatedwith aphid and leafhopper.