Strategic approaches for the management of pea nut bud necrosis virus disease of tomato

The Pea nut bud Necrosis virus (PbNv) causes serious threat to tomato cultivation in the NorthWestern Zone  of Tamil Nadu comprising of the Dharmapuri and Krishnagiri districts where large area is covered under hybrid tomato cultivation. Field trials conducted at the Regional Research station, Paiyur with plant leaf extracts, Pseudomonas fluorescens (Pf-1) and insecticides showed that foliar spray with imidacloprid (0.0375%) at 7th day after transplanting (DAT) and 30th day (based on the pest incidence); Pseudomonas fluorescens (Pf-1) (2%) + butter milk (0.3%) on 15, 30 and 45DAT was found to be highly effective as it recorded only 5.0 per cent incidence compared to control (24 percent disease incidence). The pooled mean of the three on farm trial conducted at MalaiPaiyur of Krishnagiri with US 618 tomato hybrid revealed that foliar spray with Imidacloprid ( 0.0375%) 7th and 30th DAT; Pseudomonas fluorescens (Pf-1) (2%) + butter milk (0.3%) on 15,30 and 45 DAT recorded minimum incidence of 0.9 per cent compared to the untreated control (21.0 per cent incidence). This management technology is practiced successfully in the North Western zone of Tamil Nadu district of India.