Cotton bollworm (Helicoverpa armigera) - pest of agriculture crops in transnistria

Helicoverpa armigera is a pest of major importance in most areas where it occurs, damaging a wide variety of food, oilseed, fodder and horticultural crops. Its considerable pest significance is based on the peculiarities of its biology - its mobility, polyphagy, rapid and high reproductive rate and diapause make it particularly well adapted to exploit transient habitats such as man-made ecosystems. Its predilection for the harvestable flowering parts of high-value crops including cotton, tomato, sweetcorn and the pulses confers a high economic cost in subsistence agriculture, due to its depredations. However, regional and even relatively local differences in host preference can give rise to differences in pest status on particular crops. This was shown by populations in northern and southern Moldova where severe infestations of corn and tomato are only a relatively recent event [1]. In Transnistria, H. armigera has been the principal tomato pest since the mid-1990s. Losses due to corn bollworm were at least 33% in 2016-18. The high level of control required under these circumstances, and the absence, in most situations, of adequate natural control means that chemical, or at best integrated control methods usually need to be adopted [2]. In order to achieve high biological efficiency, there have been lead phеnological supervision of insects. There have been used pheromones traps and climatic parameters [3]. Field efficacy of six insecticide along with control was evaluated against H. armigera on tomato in the Transnistrian Institute of agriculture during 2016-2018. Among the insecticides, Belt, Match and Avaunt, significantly reduced the H. armigera larval population and increased the yield. The pyrethroid Karate recorded the lowest yield comparable to that of the untreated control. Since farmers now have a number of alternatives in the form of new and old insecticides, the best strategy would be to use all the effective new compounds in rotation at appropriate time along with other pest management tactics.

хлопковая совка, фенология, трихограмма, томат, инсектициды, эффективность, cotton bollworm, phenology, trichogramma, tomato, insecticides, efficiency