Abstract

The field experiments were carried out for two consecutive rabi/summer seasons of 2008-09 and 2009-10 at farmer’s fields near Agricultural Research Station, Sankeshwar, Belagavi district, Karnataka, India to study the bio-efficacy of spiromesifen 420 SC against the sucking pests of tomato and its safety to natural enemies. The treatments comprising of two sprays of spiromesifen 240 SC @ 150, 120 and 90 g a.i./ha afforded highest protection against mites and whiteflies over untreated check. All the insecticides recorded significantly higher fruit yield than the untreated check. Two sprays of spiromesifen 240 SC @ 150, 120 and 90 g a.i./ha produced higher fruit yield and were on par with three sprays of acephate 75 SP @ 375 g a.i./ha and four sprays of dicofol 18.5 EC @ 185 g a.i./ha. Hence, the lower dosage of spiromesifen 240 SC @ 90 g a.i./ha (two sprays starting from pest incidence at 21 days interval) could be recommended for the management of mites (Tetranychus urticae Koch) and whiteflies [Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius)] in tomato. Two sprays of spiromesifen 240 SC @ 90 or 120 or 150 g a.i./ ha sustained higher population of coccinellid beetles per plant compared to three sprays of acephate 75 SP @ 375 g a.i./ha and four sprays of dicofol 18.5 EC @ 185 g a.i./ha. None of the insecticidal treatments showed any type of phytotoxic symptoms on tomato plants at 1, 3, 7, 10 and 15 days after spray at the dosages tried viz., spiromesifen 240 SC @ 150 g a.i./ha, spiromesifen 240 SC @ 300 g a.i./ha and spiromesifen 240 SC @ 600 g a.i./ha.