Journal of Hill Agriculture

An experiment was conducted in an open field close to Gumsalasa micro-dam in the offseason with irrigation in 2016 with the objective of screening phyto-pesticides for their efficacy against Tuta absoluta in tomato. Design of the experiment was RCBD with ten treatments and replicated thrice. The treatments were eight phyto-pesticidal extracts (Azadirachta indica leaf and seed, Ricinus communis leaf and oil, Phytolacca dodecandra leaf and seed, Lantana camara leaf and Nicotiana glauca leaf), dimethoate 40 EC (standard check) and control (only water). Significant differences (P < 0.05) were observed between treatments on T. absoluta mortality rate, fruit infestation, unmarketable and total yield. R. communis oil extract gave 80% mortality rate, reducing fruit infestation to 29% and recording 41.67 tonnes/ha of fruit yield followed by A. indica leaf extract which had given 63% mortality rate, reduced fruit infestation to 34.5% and recording 40 tonnes/ha of tomato fruit as compared to the control which had 32% mortality rate and 25.67 tonnes/ha of fruit yield but had 53.87% of fruit infestation. Thus, oil spray extracted from R. communis and leaf spray extracted from A. indica may be used as alternative management options to replace synthetic chemicals thereby to sustain food security.