Controlling Eggplant Fruit
and Shoot Borer
A Simple, Safe and Economical Approach
by N.S. Talekar
Guide
International
Cooperators’
AVRDC
May 2002
AVRDC pub. #02-534
Asian Vegetable Research and Development Center; P.O. Box 42, Shanhua; Taiwan 741; ROC
tel: (886-6) 583-7801 fax: (886-6) 583-0009 email: avrdcbox@netra.avrdc.org.tw www: http://www.avrdc.org.tw
For more information, contact: N.S. Talekar, Entomologist. E-mail: talekar@netra.avrdc.org.tw. Edited by T. Kalb.
Eggplant fruit and shoot borer (EFSB), Leucinodes
orbonalis, is the most damaging pest of eggplant in South
and Southeast Asia. Its larvae feed inside eggplant fruit,
making the fruit unmarketable and unfit for human con-
sumption. At times, yield loss could be total.
Farmers are currently using too many toxic chemicals
and applying them too frequently to control EFSB. This
excessive pesticide usage threatens the health of farm-
ers and consumers, besides making eggplant fruit more
costly to consumers. In the meantime, the insect is
becoming tolerant to the chemicals, making it more dif-
ficult to control.
This guide will teach you a simple, safe and economical
method to control EFSB. This method has been suc-
cessfully tested on farmers’ fields in Bangladesh and
India.
Fig. 1. Life cycle of eggplant fruit and shoot borer
EFSB goes through four different forms in one lifetime.
Moths lay tiny white eggs, mainly on leaves (Fig. 1).
After 4-5 days, eggs turn into translucent larvae. These
larvae crawl a short distance and enter into a tender
shoot or fruit. This is the stage when EFSB causes
damage.
adult
pupa
larvae
eggs
After 15-20 days of feeding, a larva is full-grown, mea-
suring 10-15 mm. It makes a small hole in the fruit or
shoot and escapes at night to the soil. It forms a sturdy
cocoon around itself on or just below the soil surface,
and rests as a pupa. The pupa looks like dried plant
debris and cannot be easily recognized.
After a week, the pupa changes into an adult moth. The
adult moth is small, white with a pink and bl