Comparative evaluation of selected bio-pesticides for insect pest management in tomato

A field experiment was conducted to evaluate the efficacy of selected biopesticides viz., neem oil, Beauveria bassiana, Verticillium lecanii, neem oil + B. Bassiana and neem oil + V. Lecani against Aphis gossypii and Bemisia tabaci and neem oil, Bacillus thuringiensis, Helicoverpa armigera nucleopolyhedrovirus (HaNPV), B. bassiana and V. lecanii against Tuta absoluta and Helicoverpa armigera. Among biopesticides, combination of neem oil and V. lecanii was most effective and showed maximum per cent reduction in population of A. gossypii and B. tabaci ranging from 63.01 to 62.71 and 64.50 to 82.23%, respectively. On the other hand, B. bassiana was found least effective. HaNPV was found most effective and showed maximum per cent reduction in population of T. absoluta and H. armigera, ranging from 45.20 to 45.87 and 65.17 to 70.68, respectively, while B. bassiana was least effective with minimum per cent reduction of T. absoluta and H. armigera.