Sex pheromone trapping plan for the management of brinjal shoot and fruit borer Leucinodes Orbonalis Guenee

Abstract

Field experiments were conducted on the brinjal shoot and fruit borer (BSFB), Leucinodes orbonalis Guenee with sex pheromone trap during 2011–12 and 2012–13 to standardize trapping plans. Traps placed at 0.6 m above crop canopy attracted more moths (12.48 moths/trap/week, n=14). A trap density of 40 traps/ha was observed to provide the highest moth catches (68.56 moths/observation, n=32) and the least fruit infestation (6.48%, n=16). The observations on the seasonal incidence revealed that the population of adults and infestation fluctuated to a great extent between years and across months; in 2011–12, highest moth catches were in the 2nd week of May (51.13 moths/trap, 19th SW) and peak fruit infestation was in the 1st week of December (57.59%, 49th SW); in 2012–13, highest moth catches were in the 5th week of November (19.13 moths/trap, 48th SW) with peak in infestation being in November 2nd week (30.67%, 45th SW). Maximum temperature load, morning and afternoon RH had a significant association with moth catches and fruit infestation, while it was non-significant negative with rainfall. The evaluation of insecticides in combination with pheromone traps revealed that diafenthiuron 50% WP (Pegasus), fipronil 5% SC (Regent) and chlorantraniliprole 18.5% SC (Coragen) were superior in conjunction with mechanical and cultural tools.