Shoot and fruit borer: Leucinodes orbonalis
Symptoms of damage:
- Withering of terminal shoots/dead hearts
- Bore holes on shoots and fruits plugged with excreta
- Shedding of flower buds
- Withering and drying of leaves
Identification of pest:
- Eggs: Creamy white eggs
- Larva: Pink in colour
- Pupa: Greyish boat-shaped cocoon
- Adult: Medium sized moth. Forewings have black and brown patches and dots on white colour, hind wings are opaescent with black dots.
Management:
- Remove the affected terminal shoot showing boreholes.
- Remove the affected fruits and destroy.
- Avoid continuous cropping of brinjal crop
- Grow the varieties with long and narrow fruits in endemic areas
- Install pheromone trap@12/ha
- Encourage the activity of larval parasitoids: Pristomerus testaceus, Cremastus flavoorbitalis
- Avoid use of synthetic pyrethroids
- Avoid using insecticides at the time of fruit maturation and harvest
- Neem seed kernel extract (NSKE) 5 % or
- Spray any one of the following chemicals starting from one month after planting at 15 days interval
| Insecticide | Dose |
| Azadirachtin 1.0% EC (10000 ppm) | 3.0 ml/lit. |
| Azadirachtin 0.03 % WSP (300 ppm) | 5.0 g/lit. |
| Chlorpyrifos 20 % EC | 1.0 ml/lit. |
| Dimethoate 30 % EC | 7.0 ml/10 lit. |
| Emamectin benzoate 5 % SG | 4 g/10 lit. |
| Flubendiamide 20 WDG | 7.5 g/10 lit. |
| Phosalone 35 % EC | 1.5 ml/lit. |
| Quinalphos 25 % EC | 1.5 ml/lit. |
| Thiodicarb 75 % WP | 2.0 g/lit. |
| Thiometon 25 % EC | 1.0 ml/lit. |
| Trichlorofon 50 % EC | 1.0 ml/lit. |
| Triazophos 40 % EC | 2.5 ml/lit. |
Source-
- TamilNadu Agritech Portal
