RESPONSE OF TOMATO PLANTS TO SOME AGRICULTURAL AND CHEMICAL TREATMENTS ON FRUIT YIELD AND ITS QUALITY RELATION TO TUTA ABSOLUTA (MEYRICK) AND BEMISIATABACI (Genn.) INFESTATION

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Self Pollination Crops Departement., Hort. Res. Inst., Agric. Res. Center, Giza, Egypt

2 Plant Protection. Res. Inst., Agric. Res. Center, Giza, Egypt

Abstract

An experiment was carried out to study the effect of some agricultural and chemical treatments on two serious insects i.e. leaf miner, Tuta asoluta (Meyrick), and the cotton whitefly Bemisia tabaci (Genn.) that infest tomato plants, as well as the influence on the growth, fruit yield and its quality  were evaluated. The trail was carried out in a sandy soil at Amoun Agricultural Association, Eltal El Kabier, Ismailia Governorate, Egypt during two autumn seasons of 2013 and 2014. The experiment included 7 treatments as follows: covering tomato plants with agryl, white and green net as a row covering tunnels, dusting with Sulfur (repellent the insect) as the safety material for human and environmental comparing chemical pesticides i.e. Actara using it as foliar spraying or soil drench and untreated control. The results showed that the all treatments induced significant positive impact for all infest status which reduced the incidence of the two serious insects’ i.e. T. asoluta and B. tabaci on tomato plants than the control treatment during the first and second seasons. Data also showed that the all treatments were infested by tomato leaf miner (eggs and larvae stage) with low numbers of eggs under the tested conditions during the two seasons except of covering with Agryl, white net and green net which were free from any tomato leaf miner. In addition, soil treatment (soil drench) application was the most potent treatment in protecting tomato plants from the whitefly immature stages, but the lowest percentage of plants exhibiting virus symptoms (TYLCV) recorded  by covering with white net treatment compared with untreated (control) during the two tested seasons. Concerning the effect of using some agricultural and the chemical treatments on horticultural characters of tomato plant, the obtained results indicated positive effect on the all studied parameter of tomato i.e. vegetative growth characters, physical and chemical fruit characters, flowering characteristics and yield components during the two seasons. The data showed that the rows covering with white net was the best potent treatment safety treatment for human healthy followed by foliar spraying with Actara 25% WG (Thiamethoxam) 20g./100 of water as chemical treatment on yield, which recorded  (41.7 and 43.2), (30.32 and 32.13) tons per feddan during the first and second seasons respectively compared with other treatments. Moreover the covering with white net also recoded the first ranking in economic study which recoded the best value (34200 and 35700) Egyptian pound on total income without addition the cost of agriculture practices during the first and second seasons respectively. For that it can recommend by covering tomato plants with white net followed by covering with agryl especially at heavy infection seasons with the serious insects as T. asoluta and B. tabaci for producing high tomato yield with best quality, in addition safety human health and environment without using pesticide.

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