Dates: April 2000 - March 2003

Funding: DFID Competitive Research Facility

Countries: India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Taiwan<

Collaborators: Dr N.S.Taleka, Asian Vegetable Research and Development Center (AVRDC), Taiwan.

NRI Project Leaders: Alan Cork

Background

Brinjal with fruit borer © University of Greenwich

The brinjal fruit and shoot borer, Leucinodes orbonalis Guenée (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae), is the major insect pest of eggplant, Solanum melongena, known locally as brinjal, throughout Asia. Larvae bore into shoots during the vegetative growth stage and later in flowers and fruits, rendering fruit unfit for human consumption. In the past, brinjal was regarded as a cheap vegetable, available throughout most of the year, but production is now seriously affected in many parts of the Indian sub-continent by the high cost and low efficacy of insecticide needed to ensure production of a viable crop. In West Bengal, for example, insecticide applications frequently exceed three a week, and alternative control strategies are needed.

Results

Open delta trap © University of Greenwich IPM field trials © University of Greenwich

The purpose of the project is to reduce constraints to production of brinjal caused by brinjal borer in SE Asia, through the development and application of appropriate, low-cost and environmentally acceptable IPM approaches. These include use of parasites and predators and of cultural approaches such as mesh fences round the fields. NRI is responsible for development of pheromones for monitoring and control of brinjal borer. To date, the pheromone blend, loading and dispenser have been optimized for attraction of male moths. The optimized lure contains 3 mg of (E)-11-hexadecenyl acetate with 1% of the corresponding alcohol dispensed from a polyethylene vial.
A range of trap designs was compared and an open sticky delta trap positioned at crop height gave highest catches of male moths.
Replicated trials were carried out in Bangladesh to evaluate an IPM approach to control of brinjal borer. Manual removal of infested shoots and mass trapping of adult moths with pheromone traps at 100 per ha gave significant reductions in levels of infestation and damage in both shoots and fruits.

Publications
Cork, A., Alam, S.N., Das, A., Das, C.S., Ghosh, G.C., Farman, D.I., Hall, D.R., Maslen, N.R., Vedham, K., Phythian, S.J., Rouf, F.M.A. and Srinivasan, K. (2001) Female sex pheromone of brinjal fruit and shoot borer, Leucinodes orbonalis (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae), blend optimization. Journal of Chemical Ecology, 27:1867-1877. Abstract.

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