Department of Entomology, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana - 141 004, Punjab, India.
*A part of the approved M.Sc. thesis submitted by the senior author to PAU, Ludhiana - 141 004, Punjab, India.
Field evaluation of weekly evening sprays of the HearNPV (PAU-1 Strain) @ 250 and 375 LE/ha (6 X 109 viral occlusion bodies = one larval equivalent) either alone or in combination with two selected optical brighteners (Ranipal® and Ujala®, each @ 1%) was compared with the endosulfan (35 EC @ 2 I/ha at fortnightly interval) and an untreated check against Helicoverpa armigera (Hübner) on tomato (cv., Punjab Chhuhara). The HearNPV (PAU-1 Strain) @ 375 LE/ha + Ranipal® gave maximum reduction in fruit damage over control (56.23%) and provided maximum marketable tomatoes (399.50 q/ha). The next effective treatments were those of the HearNPV @ 250 LE/ha + Ranipal® (1%), 250 LE/ha + Ujala® (1%) and 375 LE/ha + Ujala® (1%) yielding 340.37, 351.17 and 351.77 q/ha of marketable fruits respectively, yet significantly comparable, in terms of relatively equal field efficiency, with the endosulfan standard (355.13 q/ha). Improvement in the field performance of the HearNPV (PAU-1 Strain) was attributed to mixing of the Ranipal® and Ujala®, individually @ 1 per cent in this study.
