Unveiling a New Source of Resistance in Tomato (Lycopersicum esculentum Linnaeus) against Fruit Borer (Helicoverpa armigera Hübner)

Tomato is the most important vegetable crop belonging to the Solanaceae family. Tomatoes have grown mostly in tropical and subtropical regions of the globe. Fruit borer (Helicoverpa armigera) is a cosmopolitan, polyphagous pest responsible for considerable losses in the quantity and quality of tomato fruits. Helicoverpa armigera infestations of tomatoes has been found to cause a yield loss of up to 37.79 per cent. We experimentally screened 20 tomato genotypes against H. armigera during Rabi 2023-24. Results indicate that biophysical parameters and biochemical characteristics play a significant role in the mechanism of resistance. A significant variation was observed among the genotypes. The lowest mean larval population/plant was observed in NDT-2021-1 (0.91±0.03 larvae/ plant) followed by NDT 2021-13 (0.96±0.05 larvae/ plant), NDT-2022-3 (1.38±0.03 larvae/ plant) and the significantly highest number of mean larvae/plant population was observed in the variant NDT-2022-7 (2.71±0.10 larvae/ plant) followed by NDT-2021-8 (2.46±0.08 larvae/ plant) and NDT-2021-11 (2.43±0.05 larvae/ plant). NDT-2021-1 showed a strong resistant source exploitable for breeding programs, as this genotype is crossable with tomato.