Tomato plants are often attacked by fruit worms, whiteflies, and beetles that can ruin entire harvests. Tomato farmers depend on pesticides to protect the plants. However, they sometimes use too much of the pesticide or use the wrong kind of pesticide. This can damage the soil, and even be dangerous to humans and animals. So using pesticides could even lead to major financial losses.
How can we save tomato crops without using chemical pesticides?
Recently, agricultural engineers at the Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology came up with a solution. They thought of using a light trap since lights at night attract insects. But setting up electric lights in fields far away can be difficult.
Why not set up solar panels to produce electricity in the fields?
The researchers developed their idea into a device: a solar panel at an optimal angle to maximise daily energy capture, mounted on a rigid, four-legged iron frame. From early morning till late evening, the solar panel converts sunlight into electricity to charge a 12-volt onboard battery kept under the solar panel. The system has a light-sensing circuit that acts as an automatic switch, turning the light trap on at sunset and off at sunrise.
At night, when insects fly toward the light source suspended exactly above the tomato plants, a localised direct-current exhaust fan pulls them through a funnel into a cylindrical collection chamber covered by a mesh from which the insects cannot escape.
The insect collection chamber is detachable and the insects can be removed from it later.
Now the researchers had another question.
What is the best source of light for trapping insect pests?
The researchers decided to test 5 Watt compact fluorescent lamps which emit white, yellow and blue frequencies of light.
They field tested their device at the experimental research farm in the Shalimar Campus, Srinagar. White light was most effective. The white light trap captured an average of 72 insect pests per night, accounting for roughly 90 per cent of the total catch of insects.
Yellow light was the second most effective option, catching an average of 62 insects per night, while blue light caught the fewest.
Common target pests captured during the trials included the destructive tomato fruit worms, tree crickets, beetles, moths, and whiteflies.
The solar panel maintained a steady 12.5 per cent energy conversion efficiency, suggesting that the hardware can operate reliably even under the mild and variable agroclimatic conditions of Srinagar.
By demonstrating that solar-powered light traps can protect tomatoes as effectively as conventional pesticides, the engineers hope to pave a brighter, chemical-free method to contain insect pests. The research team now plans to optimize the light wavelengths and installation heights to make the trap easily adaptable for a wider variety of vegetable crops.
Agricultural Engineering International: CIGR Journal, 28 (3): 81-88 (2026);
https://cigrjournal.org/index.php/Ejounral/article/view/10303
Reported by Sri Manjari
Freelance writer, Hyderabad
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