Late pest control in determinate tomato cultivars

Abstract

The usage of insecticidal plants and others insect resistant varieties can be strong allies to the Integrated Pest Management (IPM), being able to reduce the number of insecticides applications and to minimize its effect to the man and the environment.The following control techniques were compared in field conditions, investigating the late pest control of two determinate tomato cultivars: a) Conventional - sprayings of metamidophos, buprofezin, acephate, cipermetrin, abamectin, permetrin, teflubenzuron and lufenuron, applied every three to six days; b) IPM - action threshold of each pest to the spraying of imidacloprid, triflumuron, lufenuron and abamectin; c) IPM - Azadirachta indica (neem) - Action threshold of each pest to the spraying of the nim oil (1.2% of azadirachtin) at a concentration of 0.5%. The IPM and IPM - Neem control techniques were efficient controlling the late pest of the tomato cultivar, not differing from the conventional treatment that presented the lowest levels of infestation. The conventional control technique, IPM and IPM-neem promoted bigger tomato production with increasements of up to 74%. The number of sprayings was reduced up to 77% with the IPM and IPM - neem techniques, when compared to the conventional method. The neem product may be a promising alternative to the late pest control in the tomato field that adjusts to the IPM.