Ovipositional and Orientational Behaviour of Helicoverpa armigera (Hüb) on Selected Tomato Accessions

The resistant accession LE 228 was initially not preferred for feeding for a period of 4 hrs after release of the larvae while EC 398704 had the least preference (0.67 larvae). Feeding increased in LE 228 and EC 398704 8 hrs after release, while there was no change in feeding preference for LE 228 after 12 hrs of release. The result on preference for oviposition under free choice test indicated that the resistant accession LE 228 had recorded the lowest number of eggs on upper leaf surface (14.00), lower leaf surface (5.33) and on stem (2.33), which had less trichome density on upper leaf surface, (10.87 mm²), calyx (10.03 mm²) and corolla (9.03 mm²) while susceptible accession LE 4 which was the most preferred one supported 34.67, 21.00 eggs/leaf on the upper and lower leaf surfaces, respectively followed by 15.33 eggs on the stem. A similar trend was noticed in no choice test also. However, between free choice test and no choice test, had supported comparatively more numbers of eggs.