Host preference of the fruit borer, Helicoverpa armigera (Hubner) on tomato varieties in mid hills of Himachal Pradesh

Abstract

Relative performance of 8 different tomato varieties viz., Palam Pink, Solan Vajar, Solan Lalima, Naveen 2000+, Yash Tomato, Rakshita, Red Gold and Heem Sohna were evaluated against the preference of tomato fruit borer during 2014-2015 in the entomology farm of Dr. YS Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Nauni (HP). The lowest egg count (0.65 egg/plant) was recorded on ‘Naveen 2000+’ followed by ‘Solan Lalima’ (0.77 egg/plant) while, ‘Red Gold’ was found to have significantly the highest egg count (2.41 eggs/plant). The varieties ‘Solan Lalima’, ‘Solan Vajar’, ‘Naveen 2000+’ and ‘Rakshita’ were categorized as less susceptible with 20.1-30.0% fruit damage, whereas, ‘Heem Sohna’, ‘Yash’ and ‘Palam Pink’ were categorized as susceptible variety with 30.1-40.0% fruit damage and ‘Red Gold’ was found to be highly susceptible variety with >40% fruit damage. Therefore, none of the screened varieties was found to be resistant to the H. armigera attack but those with least preference level can be utilized in developing the tolerant varieties for mid hill condition.