Field evaluation of indigenously developed sex pheromone lures for mass trapping brinjal shoot and fruit borer Leucinodes orbonalis Guenee (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae)

The brinjal shoot and fruit borer Leucinodes orbonalis Guenee (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) is a cornman, widespread and most destructive pest of brinjal crop all over India and other South Asian countries. Pheromone based mass trapping is an important component of integrated pest management programme for tackling this insidious pest. Studies under farmers' field conditions revealed that Leucinlure™, produced using indigenously synthesized pheromone concentrates, trapped significantly more number of adults when used with PCI's portable water traps (87.83 adults/trap over 10 weeks), as compared to funnel (21.00) and delta (15.17) traps. Multi-location trials carried out under farmers' field conditions in 5 brinjal fields each at Bangalore, Belgaum and Kolar in Karnataka and Jogipet in Andhra Pradesh (total 20 trials) during July 2004 to March 2006 validated the efficacy of Leucinlure™ in mass trapping L. orbonalis adults, in combination with portable water traps. The mean adult catches per trap for 10 weeks, which ranged between 45.69 at Jogipet to 180.23 in Kolar, with 80.00 and 153.33 in Belgaum and Bangalore, was not found to vary significantly between the 4 locations, as confirmed by DMRT analysis. Leucinlure™ was found capable of attracting L. orbonalis adults for about 9 weeks under farmers' field conditions. The half life of the lure was found to be 19 days, during release rate studies under laboratory conditions, with 11% of the initially loaded pheromone remaining in the dispenser after 63 days.