Backyard poultry farming is an age-old practice among rural people of NorthEastern Region of India including Assam. It is a potent tool for livelihood promotion of the rural people of Assam. Commercial layer farming is practically non-existent in Assam (Sapcota and Mahanta, 2007). Backyard poultry farming by and large was a low input or no input venture (Singh and Johari, 1990; Saha, 2003). Besides income generation, backyard poultry helps in alleviation of malnutrition of the rural people through production of valuable animal protein and empowers rural women. In spite of low productivity, the contribution of backyard poultry towards Indian egg production is about 30 to 40 per cent (Panda et al., 2008). In Assam, the eggs and meat of indigenous chicken fetch fair prices as compared to that of commercial chicken. Backyard poultry do not require large investment to start and maintain as compared to commercial poultry (Alders et al., 2009). Vanaraja, a dual purpose chicken has become popular among the rural people of as one of the income generating activity especially for the rural women (Niranjan et al., 2008a). In the context of the above, the present study was undertaken to compare the performance of Vanaraja with that of indigenous chicken under rural backyard system of rearing in Jorhat and Nagaon districts of Assam.

A field study was conducted at farmers field of Jorhat, Assam during 2010-11 to evaluate the efficacy of three commercial biopesticides, two based on insect pathogenic fungi viz., Beauveria bassiana and Metarhizium anisopliae and one botanical-Neem oil in comparison with chemical-cypermethrin against the tomato fruit borer (Helicoverpa armigera). The study revealed the reduction in fruit damage was upto 92.20 per cent in cypermethrin treated plot followed by 91.12 per cent, 88.74 per cent and 87.01 per cent in the plots treated with Neem oil, B. Bassiana and M. Anisopliae, respectively due to H. armigera larvae over control. The study showed that neem oil was nearly as effective as cypermethrin in reducing fruit damage leading to increased yield. The highest increase in yield over control was noticed in cypermethrin treated plots (62.85%) followed by neem oil treated plots (41.83%).The entomopathogenic fungi-Beauveria bassiana and Metarhizium anisopliae could be effectively used as pest management option in production of organic tomato to reduce the pest population below economic threshold level and increased yield. Key words : Metarhizium anisopliae, Beauveria bassiana, Neem oil, Helicoverpa armigeraHow to cite this paper : Phukon, M., Sarma, I., Borgohain, R., Sarma, B. and Goswami, J. (2014). Efficacy of Metarhizium anisopliae, Beauveria bassiana and Neem oil against tomato fruit borer, Helicoverpa armigera under field condition. Asian J. Bio. Sci., 9 (2) : 151-155.

Drying is the moisture removing process from the products. Drying is very important process applicable for agricultural and industrial products. Drying reduces the bacterial growth in the products. It will helpful for preserving the products for long time. Open air and uncontrolled sun drying is still the most common method used to preserve and process Agricultural product. But uncontrolled drying suffers from serious problem of wind born dust, infestation by insect, product may be totally damaged. Solar drying is the oldest method of products drying. Local made solar dryers have been developed and used to dry agricultural products in order to improve shelf-life. The objective of this study is to see the advantages of solar dryer on their effectiveness in the drying of agricultural products. The findings showed that the solar dryer is beneficial than the sun drying techniques. Solar dryers have shortcomings. They are of little use during cloudy weather. During fair weather they can work too well. Although solar dryers involve an initial expense, they produce better looking, better tasting, and more nutritious foods, enhancing both their food value and their marketability. They are faster, safer and more efficient than traditional sun drying techniques.

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