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Abstract
Background: Sucking insects (Sulzer, Lindeman, Ishida) haram several vegetables including tomato across the world tomato crops and reduce yield. Farmers often use insecticides, which may also harm useful insects. This study looks at plant extracts as safer pest control methods.
Objective: To investigate the effect of different plant extracts and an insecticide against sucking insect pests and their associated predators in tomato (Lycopersicum esculentum Mill) crop.
Methodology: The experiment conducted was laid out in RCB Design with five treatments including insecticide Confidor20%SL and different plant extracts i.e. Azadirachta indica 3 %, Parthenium hysterophorus 5%, Datura alba 5% and control. Each treatment was replicated thrice to find the most effective treatment for controlling the sucking insect pests.
Results: The findings showed that, as compared to the control, all plant extracts and confidor considerably reduced the number of sucking insect pests in tomato crops. Plots treated with Confidor had the lowest infestation of tomato sucking insect pests, followed by A. indica seed extract. The control plots had the highest infestation of tomato sucking insect pests, followed by D. alba and P. hysterophorus. Like this, the control plots had the largest populations of predators, such as ladybird beetles, green lacewings, and syrphid flies, followed by D. alba and P. hysterophorus. Conversely, confidor and A. indica had the lowest populations compared to other plant extracts. Yield results showed that highest tomato yield (8090.8kg ha-1) was obtained from confidor treated plots followed by seed extract of A. indicia (7285.8 kg ha-1) meanwhile, lowest tomato yield (4230kg ha-1) was obtained from control plots followed by D. alba (5208.3 kg ha-1) and P. hysterophorous (5382.5 kg ha-1) respectively.
Conclusion: Overall, A. indica seed extract proved to be an effective and comparatively safer alternative to chemical insecticides for managing sucking insect pests in tomato.