Insect Pests of Brinjal and Management of Fruit and Shoot Borer : Eco-friendly Insecticides and Pheromone Trap

Aubergine is an important dietary vegetable grown all over the country. The crop is subjected to high degree of instability in production,mainly on account of losses caused by different insect pests at different stages of the crop. Meghalaya (part of North Eastern Himalayas)is highly weather dynamic which are most conducive for development of different insect species and their natural enemies. Recently it has been observed that minor pests are becoming major in some commercial crops. Therefore,periodical surveillance may help to recognize the relative economic importance of different pests on that crop. Nearly 25.82 to 92.50% damage is attributed due to shoot and fruit borer. Management of this notorious pest by using conventional insecticides and synthetic pyrethroids has been found effective. However,indiscriminate use of insecticides has resulted in development of resistance,environmental pollution,bio-accumulation and bio-magnifications of toxic residues which leads to ecological imbalance. Considering these entire quandaries and to keep uncontaminated biodiversity,the study was conducted to evaluate some Eco-friendly insecticides as well as pheromone for their bio-efficacy.