Growth, Yield and Pest Infestation Assessment of Solanum Lycopersicum Under Pest Exclusion Net (Pen) Technique in Bangladesh

Abstract

Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) is one of the most popular vegetable crops in Bangladesh. The production of this crop in open field is constrained by major pests like fruit borer, yellow striped armyworm and caterpillar. A pest exclusion net (PEN) experiment was carried out to assess the performance of seven varieties of tomato through growth, yield and pest occurrence. The two-factor experiment was carried out in randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three conditions viz. under net without pesticide, no net with pesticide, no net without pesticide and three replications. Data were analyzed with MSTAT-Cv. 2.1 software package and means were separated by Duncan’s multiple range test (DMRT) at 1% level of significance. The result revealed that crop under PEN had maximum plant height (98.47±1.02 cm), inflorescence number per plant (20.34±0.06), open flowers number per plant (69.34±2.02), fruit number per plant (43.12±0.03), individual fruit weight (49.70±0.02 g), gross yield (50.76±1.06 tons/ha) whereas no net with or without pesticide condition produced the minimum above traits. However, most of the parameters showed decreasing trend under no net condition except pest incidence. This study shows that the use of PEN protect tomato against pests, increases growth and yield which can be considered as a viable technology for tomato production by marginal farmers of Bangladesh. J Bio-Sci. 30(1): 21-32, 2022 (June)