1. The document discusses several major pests that affect tomatoes, including the tomato fruit borer (Helicoverpa armigera), serpentine leaf miner (Liriomyza trifolii), greenhouse whitefly (Trialeurodes vaporariorum), thrips, hadda beteles beetles, spider mites (Tetranychus urticae), and leaf eating caterpillars like Spodoptera litura. 2. It describes the identification, life cycle, damage symptoms, and management strategies for each pest. Key management approaches include use of resistant varieties, removal of weeds and alternate hosts, application of recommended insecticides or miticides, and conservation of

1. PESTS OF TOMATO

2. 1. Tomato fruit borer, Helicoverpa armigera
(Noctuidae: Lepidoptera)
Distribution: Cosmopolitan in distribution
Host plants: Polyphagous, infests over 100 host
plants including chickpea, cotton, caster, tomato,
cowpea, millets, linseed, tobacco, safflower, pigeon
pea, okra, carnation etc.
Damage:
1. Damage is caused by the larva.
2. Feed on the foliage, flowers, buds and fruits.
3. Small green fruits are preferred
4. Single larva can destroy many fruits
5. The damage is more pronounced during March to
June

3. Identification:
• Eggs: yellowish white, ribbed, dome shaped and 0.4-0.5
mm in dia.
• Larvae: Newly emerged are yellowish white where as older
can be of many colours depending upon the food they
consume. Full grown caterpillars are 40-48 mm long with
whitish and dark gray longitudinal stripes.
• Adults:
•Medium sized stoutly built moths.
• Forewing is light yellow in males and brown in females.
• On the apical margin of forewings, wavy lines in the form
of light black band are visible and a black spot appears on
the upper side of the wing.
• On the tip of the abdomen there is a tuft of hairs in case of
females, nevertheless, the tuft of hairs is absent in males.

4. Egg
Adult
Larva Pupa

6. Life cycle:
• Incubation period: 2-5 days
• Larval period: 15-22 days
• Prepupal period: 1-2 days
• Pupal period: 10-14 days
• Adult longevity: 6-10 days
• Fecundity: 300-800 eggs

7. Salient features:
1. Eggs are laid singly on leaves, flower and fruits.
2. Young larvae feed on tender foliage and older
bore fruits.
3. Caterpillars thrust only a part of their body
inside the fruit and feed on the inner contents.
4. Single larva can destroy 2-8 fruits.
5. Partially damaged fruits are attacked by other
microbes.
6. The caterpillars are cannibalistic in nature..

8. Management:
1. Use of resistant varieties like Punjab Kesari,
Punjab Chhaura, Pant Bahar, Azad, Pusa Hybrid-4
etc.
2. Deep summer ploughing to expose the pupae to
the sunlight and natural enemies.
3. African marigold as trap crop.
4. Pheromone traps i.e. Helilure (5 traps/ ha) of
moths for monitoring.
5. Monitoring of top three leaves for egg laying.

9. 6. Spray of HaNPV @ 250 LE/ha at weekly intervals
7. Bt formulation @ 0.5 Kg/ha.
8. Periodic releases of egg parasitoid,
Trichogramma chilonis 6 times @ 50,000/ac per
week coinciding with flowering time based on
ETL.
9. Natural enemies like Campoletis chloridae,
Bracon brevicornis and Trichogramma spp are
active in nature.
10. Spray of NSKE @ 4%.
11. Emergency spray of spinosad @ 0.4ml/L or
indoxacarb @ 0.6 to 0.7ml/L or flubendiamide @
0.2 to 0.5ml/L or chlorantraniliprole @ 0.3ml/L.
Management:

10. 2. Serpentine leaf miner, Liriomyza trifolii
(Agromyzidae: Diptera)
Distribution: All over the world
Host plants: Large number of host plants including
tomato, capsicum, potato, black gram, cowpea,
peas, beans, cruciferous crops, cucurbits, okra,
cotton, many ornamental plants and weeds

11. Damage:
1. Damage is caused by the larvae
2. Feed on the palisade mesophyll tissue in
between the two epidermis of the leaf.
3. Infested leaves become transparent papery in
the mined areas
4. Photosynthesis is reduced.
5. The attack appears during April and is more
pronounced from June onwards.

12. Adult Maggot
Puparium

13. Damage symptopms

14. Damage symptopms

15. Identification:
Eggs: Newly laid eggs are white, translucent and turn
opaque as the development advances.
Larvae: The larvae are orange yellow, apodous. They
move through peristaltic action between the two
epidermis. Full-grown maggots are 1.88 x 0.70
mm.
Pupae: Orange yellow initially which turn dark-
brown on maturity. They measure1.84 X 0.68
mm.
Adults: The adults are minute greyish black flies
with plum red eyes and a yellow spot on the
scutellum. The females are bigger (2.01x0.61mm)
in size than males (1.79x0.52 mm).

16. Life cycle:
• Eggs hatch in 2-3 days
•First, second and third larval stages develop in 2-3,
1-3 and 5-7 days
•Pupal period lasts for 8-10 days.
• Preoviposition period 1-3 days
• Oviposition period is 8-15 days.
• Post-oviposition period is for 1-3 days.
• Male longevity is 8-12 days
• Females live up to13-17 days

17. Salient features:
1. The eggs are deposited singly in close proximity
by embedding them in to the leaf tissue.
2. Larvae feed through peristaltic action between
the two epidermis.
3. Fecundity is 22-186 eggs.
4. Many generations in a year.

18. Management:
1. Judicious use of nitrogenous fertilizer reduces
the build up of the pest in endemic areas.
2. Severely infested leaves should be removed and
destroyed.
3. NSKE @ 4% along with sticker is effective.
4. The pest can be controlled by spraying the crop
with chlorpyriphos @ 2ml/L or pymetrozine 50
WG @ 0.6g/L or flonicamid 50 WG @ 0.3g/L.

19. 3. Greenhouse whitefly,
Trialeurodes vaporariorum or
Bemisia tabaci
(Aleyrodidae: Hemiptera)
Distribution: Cosmopolitan
Hosts: Polyphagous
Damage:
1. Caused by nymphs as well as adults
2. Suck the cell sap from leaves
3. Leaves turn yellow and dry away.
4. Nymphs also excrete honey dew on which sooty
moulds develops
5. Photosynthesis of the plant is reduced.

20. Identification:
1. Greenhouse whiteflies are small insects with
white coloured wings
2. The eggs are 0.2 to 0.25 mm x 0.08 to 0.12 mm
3. Newly emerged nymphs are light yellow in colour
4. Last nymphal instar is 0.70 to 0.90 x 0.40 to 0.60
mm

23. Life cycle:
1. Incubation period is 3 to 8 days
2. Development of first, second, third and fourth
instar nymph is completed in 2 to 6, 5 to 8, 3 to
5 and 3 to 6 days, respectively.
3. The total life cycle is completed in 15 to 32 days.

24. Salient features:
1. Remain hidden on the under surface of leave.
2. Eggs are stalked and remain suspended on the
lower surface of the leaf.
3. Four nymphal stages.
4. Full grown nymph pupates in a yellow pupal
case surrounded by a waxy palisade and waxy
fringe.
5. Many generations in a year.

25. Management:
1. Removal of weed hosts is important to reduce
the incidence.
2. Protect the nursery by using nylon nets (200
mesh) for 25-30 days.
3. The pest can be controlled by need based
spraying of crop with pymetrozine 50 WG @
0.6g/L or flonicamid 50 WG @ 0.3g/L.

26. 4. Thrips:
Important species: Frankliniella occidentalis
Blossom thrips, Frankliniella schultzei;
Onion thrips, Thrips tabaci;
Groundnut thrips, Caliothrips indicus
Distribution: Cosmopolitan
Host range: Polyphagous
Identification: Adults are fragile, slender, and
minute with fringed wings.

27. Damage:
1. Severely infested flowers wilt, fade and drop
prematurely without bearing fruits.
2. Lacerate the leaf tissue and imbibing the oozing
sap.
3. Spotted and pale (Silvery streaks) are seen on
affected leaves.
4. It is also a vector for tomato spotted wilt virus
which causes bud necrosis.

29. Life cycle:
1. Parthenogenesis is the main mode of
reproduction, though sexual reproduction also
occurs.
2. A female lays on an average 50 eggs and the life
cycle is completed in about 13-33 days.
3. Females live longer than males
4. Several overlapping generations in a year

30. Management:
1. Removal of weed and alternate hosts.
2. The pest can be controlled by need based
spraying of crop with pymetrozine 50 WG @
0.6g/L or flonicamid 50 WG @ 0.3g/L.

31. 5. Hadda beteles
Important species:
Henosepilachna vigintioctopunctata
H. dodecastigma
H. demurili
Family: Coccinellidae
Order: Coleoptera
Distribution: India, south-east Asia
Host range: H. vigintioctopunctata and H.
dodecastigma attack solanaceous and
cucurbitaceous crops, while H. demurili attack only
cucurbitaceous vegetables only.

33. Hadda beteles

36. Damage:
1. The damage is caused by the beetles and the
grubs.
2. The leaves are damaged by feeding on the
chlorophyll tissue between veins.
3. Leaves are skeletonised.

37. Identification:
1. The grubs are about 6mm, yellow, with six rows
branched spines.
2. Beetles measure about 8 to 9 mm in length and
5 to 6mm in breadth.
3. H. vigintioctopunctata beetles are deep copper
coloured having 14 black spots on each elytron
whose tip is somewhat pointed
4. Beetles of H. dodecastigma are deep copper
coloured with 6 black spots on each elytron
whose tip is more rounded.
5. H. demurili beetles are dull in appearance and
light copper coloured with each elytron bearing 6
black spots surrounded by yellow margins.

38. Life cycle:
• The incubation period is 2- 3days
• Larval period is 14-18 days
•Pre-pupal period is 1-2 days
• Pupal period 4-5 days .
• Pre-oviposition period is 5-6 days
• Oviposition period is about 40-50 days
•Post-oviposition period is 10 days
•Adult longevity is 60-65 days (male) and 65-70
days (female)
• Several generations from March to October.

39. Salient features:
1. Beetles resume their activity during March-
April.
2. Hibernate as an adult in heaps of dry plants or
in cracks and crevice in soil.
3. Yellow cigar shaped eggs are laid mostly on the
under surface of the leaves in clusters of 5 to 55
each.
4. A single female can lay 200 to 700 eggs.

40. Management
1. Collect and destroy adult beetles, grubs and
pupae.
2. Shake plants to dislodge grubs, pupae and adults
in a pail of kerosenated water early in the morning
or collect them mechanically and destroy.
3. Larval parasitoids such as Pediobius foveolatus and
Uga menoni are active in nature.
4. Emulsify 1 lit of Neem oil with 60 g of soap
dissolved in 0.5 L of water, dilute emulsion by
adding 20 lit of water, then mix about 400 g of well
crushed garlic and spray.
5. Spray chloropyriphos @ 2ml/L or quinalphos @
2ml/L .

41. 6. Phytophagous mites, Tetranychus urticae
(Tetranychidae: Acarina)
Damage:
1. Caused by the larvae, nymphs and adults by
sucking the cell sap from under side of leaves,
flower buds and flowers.
2. When population is high it results in bronzing
and curling of leaves and discoloration of flowers
and leaves.
3. Webbing of leaves, sepals and petals occur which
give untidy look to the plant.
4. The infestation is more severe under poly house
conditions.

43. Identification & Life cycle:
1. Eggs hatch is about 2-4 days
2. Newly emerged larva becomes protonymphs
in about 2 days
3. Protonymph stage is 2-3 days
4. Deutonymph stage lasts for 1-3 days
5. Male longevity is 9-13 days and females live
for 14-20 days.

44. Salient features:
1. Eggs are laid mostly along the midrib and side
margins on the lower surface of the leaves.
2. Weather factors play an important role.
3. Under dry and hot conditions the multiplication
of these mites is very high and the infestation is
also severe.
4. High humidity and temperature reduces the
reproduction of the pest and hence the
incidence is low.

45. Management:
1. Remove the old and infested leaves and burn
them
2. Try to avoid dry conditions and spray
frequently with plain water at least twice a
week with sprinkler.
3. Spray miticide like dicofol @ 3 – 5ml/L or
spiromesifen @ 0.6 to 0.8ml/L or propargite @
1ml/L.

46. 7. Leaf eating caterpillar, Spodoptera litura
(Noctuidae: Lepidoptera)
Distribution: Throughout the tropical and
subtropical parts of the world.
Host plants: Polyphagous
Damage:
1. Damage is caused by the caterpillars.
2. Feed on leaves and fresh growth.
3. They are active at night.
4. Young caterpillars bite holes on leaves.
5. Older larvae defoliate entire foliage
6. Buds and Fruits are also bored and destroyed

49. Common
name
Scientific
name
Order Family
Fruit sucking
moths
Otheris
fullonica,
O. materna
Lepidoptera Noctuidae
Mealy bug Ferrisia
virgata
Hemiptera Pseudococcidae
Cotton jassid Amrasca
bigutulla
bigutulla
Hemiptera Cicadellidae
Plant bug Nezara
viridula
Hemiptera Pentatomidae

50. THANK YOU