Dimapur, July 4 (EMN): Nagaland University’s School of Agricultural Sciences and Rural Development (SASRD) has reported the presence of a tomato plant pest called the South American Tomato Leafminer that is said to prey on tomato plants.
According to a press release that was issued to the media on Thursday, an “experimental trial” that was conducted on vegetable crops by the SASRD’s department of horticulture observed the presence of said pest, which reportedly was damaging tomato plants.
The institute’s dept. of horticulture issued the press release.
“This pest has been reported crossing borders and devastating tomato production in both protected and open field conditions in many parts of the world,” the press release stated.
“It has been reported infesting tomato in some states of India. As such Tuta absoluta has also reached Nagaland as it was observed infesting tomato plants in the experiment conducted.”
“This pest was observed from end of March to April, where feeding damages were caused by the larvae throughout the whole plant,” the updates stated.
According to the press release, the larvae feed on the ‘Mesophyll’ tissue, forming irregular leaf ‘mines’ which become transparent after feeding. The larvae could be observed between the mined transparent leaves, the updates stated.
The leaves become necrotic later, while the larvae were also observed attacking the fruits of tomato plants. The symptoms that were observed included that of small pinhead-shaped holes on the fruits, the press release stated.
“As reported in the literatures and research papers, this pest is originated from Latin America which has been reported to spread via infested fruits and packaging material to other parts of the world. Larvae of this insect pest can damage 80-100 percent of cultivated tomato plants in newly invaded areas if control measures are not applied,” the updates stated.
Vegetable farmers in Nagaland are advised to take note of the insect and be vigilant ‘as it might attack tomato plant with great severity in the future,’ the press release stated.
