Leticia A. Lutap | Mario I. Remolacio
Discipline: Agriculture
Three solanaceous vegetable crops - sweet pepper (Capsicum annuum), finger pepper (Capsicum sp), and tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum, S Miller) were at different planting dates using Integrated Pest Management (IPM) and Farmer’s Practice (FP) to determine pest incidence and to compare their yield and profitability. Pest incidence was very high during late planting. Meanwhile, natural enemies incidence was higher during regular planting than either early or late planting. Moreover, pests were higher FP plots, while natural enemies were higher in IPM plots across the planting dates. The most prevalent pest observed both in IPM and FP plots was whitefly (family Aleyrodidae). Curling of leaves upward and downward, which was suspected to be caused by thrips (Thrips palmy Karny) and mites (P. latus Banks) was observed in sweet and finger pepper across all planting dates in both IPM and FP plots; however, its occurrence was only light to moderate under regular planting. Further, damaged tomato fruits caused by fruitworm were more visible during regular planting. Ina addition, the most prevalent natural enemies included various spiders belonging to families Lycosidae and Salticidae, wasp belonging to families Icheumonidae and Brachonidae, as well as Coccinelidae bettles. Furthermore, sweet pepper yield was higher during regular planting, but it was higher during early planting using IPM. On the other hand, finger pepper yield was comparable across the planting dates, but it was higher in IPM plots. That trend was also evident in producing tomatoes wherein higher yield was obtained in IPM plots that that of the FP plots. On the whole, the IPM approach is more economical, profitable, and practical that the usual FP. With IPM, pesticide use is minimized; thus, pest resurgence and environmental hazards could be avoided.
ISSN 2012 0060 (Print)
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