Pesticide Research Journal

The efficacy of chlorantraniliprole 18.5 SC @ 175, 150 and 125 mL ha⁻¹ to manage Helicoverpa armigera, a key pest of tomato is reported alongwith standard profenophos 50 EC @ 1500 mL ha⁻¹ during 2013–15 at Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana. The district lies between north latitude 30^o-34 ’and 31^o-01 ’and east longitude 75^o-18 ’and 76^o-20 ’, 262 metres above mean sea level, with sub tropical humid climate. The tomato crop was raised on sandy loam soil. The results revealed that the lowest mean number of larvae plant⁻¹ and lowest fruit infestation were recorded in chlorantraniliprole 18.5 SC @ 175 mL ha⁻¹ (0.25 larva plant⁻¹ & 14.17% fruit damage) followed by chlorantraniliprole 18.5 SC @ 150 mL ha⁻¹ (0.28 larva plant⁻¹ & 17.25% fruit damage) which were significantly superior over control with 5.48 larvae plant⁻¹ and 26.55% fruit infestation. The pooled yield over the two seasons revealed the maximum marketable tomato fruit yield in chlorantraniliprole 18.5 SC @ 175 mL ha⁻¹ (978.5 q ha⁻¹) followed by 830 q ha⁻¹ in chlorantraniliprole @ 150 mL ha⁻¹, both being at par with one another and significantly superior over control (642.49 q ha⁻¹). All the treatments showed non significant differences for natural enemy population Larval population when linearly regressed correlated positively with per cent fruit infestation; marketable yield showed negative correlation to the per cent fruits infested and larval population. Thus chlorantraniliprole can be integrated in current pest management programmes to manage this notorious pest on tomato.