Katyayani Eggplant Fruit & Shoot Borer Lure (LEUCINODES ORBONALIS)

Fruit and shoot borer is an important and major pest of Brinjal. Farmers in some areas of Northern India and Bangladesh are finding that even daily applications do not provide effective control. The female moth lays eggs individually on the shoots of young brinjal plants. The small larvae that emerge soon eat their way into the tender growing shoots where they are protected from larval parasitoids and natural enemies such as ants and beetles. The feeding activity of the larvae causes the young shoots to droop in a characteristic manner. As the brinjal plant develops and begins to produce fruit the female moth preferentially lays eggs on the fruit into which emerging larvae burrow. Several larvae can be present in one fruit at a time, depending on the fruit’s size. As the larvae burrow into the fruit they block the hole with excrement or frass so preventing predators from attacking them.