Eggplant fruit borer

Brinjal fruit and shoot borer (BFSB) is a very important pest on brinjal and is one of the main impediments to brinjal production. It is an internal borer which damages the tender shoots and fruits. The yield loss varies from season to season and from location to location. It can also attacks other crops such as other Solanaceae (e.g. potato, tomato), mango, sweet potato and pea.

L. orbonalis eggs are laid during the night on the lower surface of the young leaves, green stems, flower buds, or calyces of the fruits. Within an hour of hatching, the caterpillar (larva) bores into the nearest tender shoot, flower, or fruit. Soon after boring into shoots or fruits, they plug the entrance hole with excreta. In young plants, caterpillars are reported to bore inside petioles and midribs of large leaves. As a result, the affected leaves may drop off. Larval feeding inside shoots results in wilting of the young shoot. The damaged shoots ultimately drop off, disturbing plant growth and reducing fruit number and size. New shoots may grow but this delays crop maturity. Larval feeding inside the fruit results in the destruction of fruit tissue, making even slightly damaged fruit unfit for marketing.

(Plantwise Datasheet)