A review on biology and possible management strategies of tomato leaf miner, Tuta absoluta (Meyrick), Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae in Nepal

Tuta absoluta (Meyrick) (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae), Tomato Leaf Miner (TLM) moth, is one of the notorious oligophagous pests of solanaceous crops that mines primarily on mesophyll of leaves as well bore tomato fruits. In Nepal, T. absoluta, the pest that has a potential to create loss up to 100%, was detected in 2016 in a commercial tomato farm at Kathmandu. So, the farmers and researchers must heed for effective management contrivance to improve the yield of tomato in Nepal. The devastating nature of T. absoluta causes its unusual proliferation so that it needs dire study of its host range, potential damage and sustainable management strategies. We discussed the data and information on T. absoluta available in several research papers comprehensively and provided succinct information on occurrence of T. absoluta in the world, its biology, life cycle, host plants, yield loss due to T. absoluta and several novel control tactics which helps farmers, researchers, policy makers to sustainably rise the tomato production in Nepal as well as in global context to attain food security. Sustainable pest management strategies such as Integrated Pests Manage-ment (IPM) approaches incorporating and prioritizing biological control methods with usage of chemical pesticides with less toxic active ingredient can be encouraged to the farmers for con-trolling the pests sustainably.

Automated summary

Tuta absoluta, also known as Tomato Leaf Miner (TLM) moth, is a destructive pest that primarily mines on leaves and fruits of solanaceous crops. Its detection in Nepal in 2016 has raised concerns about the potential for significant yield loss. Therefore, farmers and researchers need to implement effective management strategies to increase tomato production in Nepal.