Impact of indigenous farming systems on arthropod dynamics, soil fauna and quality of tomato under north- Indian conditions Suri K S1, Singh Dhanwinder2, Kooner Rubaljot1,*, Kalra Shasta1 1Department of Entomology, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana-141004, Punjab 2Department of Soil Science, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana-141004, Punjab *Corresponding author: rubalsidhu05@pau.edu
Online published on 28 September, 2023. Abstract The impact of different crop production systems on arthropod diversity, enzymatic activity, soil microflora and fruit quality on winter planted tomato crop was studied during 2017-2019 at Ludhiana. Highest populations of Aphis gossypii (2.15/3leaves) and Helicoverpa armigera (1.31%) were observed in organic fields followed by IPM and conventional fields during 2017-18. Correlation analysis between aphids and meteorological parameters revealed a negative correlation of aphid with maximum and minimum temperature while tomato fruit borer population showed a positive trend. The mean fruit yield in the farming system following Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) was maximum (592.4 q/ha). The mean spider population (no.) was found to be significantly higher under organic conditions (0.56) in contrast to conventional (0.11) and IPM (0.35). Analysis of soil and tomato fruit samples for pesticide residues showed that samples from organic & IPM fields were free from the pesticide residues whereas collected field samples showed the presence of profenophos during 2017 and mancozeb during 2018. The flavonoids, antioxidants, activity of alkaline phosphatase and urease from organic fields was higher in comparison to conventional fields. Top Keywords Aphis gossypii, Helicoverpa armigera, Microorganisms, Pesticide residues, Seasonal incidence. Top |