Incidence of major insect pests of tomato influenced by environmental factors in western Manipur

A field experiment was conducted at Imphal to study the incidence of major insect pests of tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) during 2021. Among the insect pests encountered, fruit borer, whiteflies, aphids and leaf miner were the major insect pests found and others were negligible. The incidence of aphids started during 4^th week of February and highest peak population were observed during 1^st week of April (4.90 no./leaf). Highest populations of whitefly and leaf miner were found during the 4^th week of March (4.70 no./leaf) and 2^nd week of April (2.85 no./leaf) respectively. Fruit borer started appearing on fruits by 1^st week of April and reached at its highest peak during 4^th week of April (1.85 no./plant). Fruit borer had positive correlation with minimum temperature (0.554) but non-significant with other abiotic factors. Aphid was found to be negatively correlated with maximum relative humidity (− 0.488). There was negative correlation between minimum relative humidity with whitefly (−0.627) and thrips (−0.536). Leaf miner and mealybug had negative correlation with maximum relative humidity but non-significant with other abiotic factors.