Evaluation of Biocidal Efficacy of Botanicals against Tomato Fruit Borer (Helicoverpa ArmegeraHubner) at Field Level

Biotic stresses have remain the dominant features in controlling the yield and quality of vegetable crops. Among them insect come first in their importance. Tomato fruits borer is very devastating insect at field level and cause huge economic damage in congenial environment. Synthetic pesticides are very effective but their residual effect on soil, water and food created noticeable problem which found to cause fauna and flora erosion. Several herbs have been identified for their insecticidal potentiality. Their residual effects are nominal and are liable to degrade with short time unlike synthetic pesticides which take long time. An attempt was made to explore the effect of botanicals on tomato fruit borer under field conditions in Jamui district of Bihar. Encouraging results were obtained with botanical pesticides. All the botanicals yielded significant effect in fruit borer management of tomato crop. Plant vigor was also affected by botanicals application. All the botanicals were found to influence significantly the vigor of the plant in comparison to control.