Fitness and population build-up of a native predatory bug, Nesidiocoris tenuis, on tomato pinworm, Phthorimaea absoluta, in a modified crop habitat

The tomato pinworm damage, population build-up, the damage and longevity of native predatory bug, Nesidiocoris tenuis in sole crop and diversified crop of tomato (pumpkin and sunn hemp as border crop + a patch of sunn hemp as hedgerow) were studied. Infestation of tomato pinworm, Phthorimaea absoluta was found to be the highest in the sole crop (5.60 live mines/plant at 20 DAP) compared to the diversified crop of tomato (1.50 live mines per plant). No significant difference in the number of necrotic rings per plant was observed between the sole crop and the diversified crop of tomatoes. The development period of nymphs of N. tenuis was the shortest in tomatoes followed by pumpkin. The results of the present study confirmed the role of crop diversification in supporting the population build-up of predatory bug N. tenuis in effecting the biological control of pinworm in tomato crop.