Population abundance and eco-friendly management of tomato fruit borer, Helicoverpa armigera hb. on tomato under west Bengal conditions

the larval population of tomato fruit borer, H. armigera first appeared in the field during 3^rd standard metrological week (SMW) which gradually increased and reached its peak (7.37 larvae per plant) during 12^th SMW i.e. on 21.3.16. Correlation between various abiotic factors viz., maximum relative humidity (r = -0.38), minimum relative humidity (r = -0.21) and rainfall (r = -0.33) with fruit borer larval population was found to be negative where as maximum temperature (r = 0.88), minimum temperature (r = 0.86) and sunshine hour (r = 0.34) were positively correlated with H. armigera larval population. Application of Beauveria bassiana 1.50% LF (Bio-Power) at three different doses along with neem and quinalphos revealed that upto 80% pest mortality over untreated control can be obtained when Beauveria bassiana 1.50% LF was applied @ 4000 ml/ha.