Res. Jr. of Agril. Sci. 10(1): 86-90 ISSN: 0976-1675 www.rjas.org Research Journal of Agricultural Sciences © Centre for Advanced Research in Agricultural Sciences Research Paper DI: 5312-2910-018 ITK Adoption Pattern of Organic Farmers in Tamil Nadu for the Management of Shoot and Fruit Borer Leucinodes orbonalis Guenee in Brinjal Crop R Vishnu Priya, G Ravi 1 * and K Elanchezhyan Department of Agricultural Entomology, Agricultural College and Research Institute (TNAU), Killikulam, Vallanadu, Thoothukudi - 628 252, Tamil Nadu Department of Plant Protection, Anbil Dharmalingam Agricultural College and Research Institute (TNAU), Tiruchirapalli - 600 027, Tamil Nadu *Corresponding author: Dr. G. Ravi (Professor), Department of Plant Protection, Anbil Dharmalingam Agricultural College and Research Institute, (TNAU), Tiruchirapalli - 600 027, Tamil Nadu, India e-mail: entoravi@gmail.com Received: 29 October 2018; Revised accepted: 25 December 2018 A B S T R A C T Brinjal, Solanum melongena L, is a commercial grown vegetable crop cultivated by the farmers since several years. Farmers relay mainly on pesticides for the management of L. orbonalis, one of the major destructive pest. The light of increasingawareness on organic farming and organic produce, the area under organic farming is in expanding stage in different state in India. The present study was taken to document and to understand the ITK practices of farmers growing organic brinjal in different districts in Tamil Nadu. Majority of the farmers 65.42 per cent who are practicing farmers are medium category land holding of 2 to 10 hectare and 86.70 per cent of farmers interview depend organic agriculture as main source of Income. Use 14 different soil amendments/foliar spray to meet out the nutrient requirement of the organic brinjal crop. The cow based ITK product Panchagavya is a major source of nutrient substitute used by 73 percent of the farmers. They use around 14 different ITK concoctions in rotation for the management of L. orbonalis. Most commonly used ITK concoctions were Meenamilam (10 mi/lit), Neem oil (2 ml/lit), Ginger-Garlic extracts (5 ml/lit), Ten leaf extract (16.4%) moor karaisal (100 ml/lit) pungam oil (30 ml/lit), tobacco leaf extract (30 ml/lit) Agniasthiram (30 ml/lit) and Neemastram (25 ml/lit). A Meenamilam ITK concoctionis used by 75 per cent of the farmers survived across the Tamil Nadu. The present study indicates availability of an array of ITK concoctions used by the organic farmers for the management of L. orbonalis in brinjal. The information generated in the present study will be useful in designing organic IPM module for the pest management in brinjal and organic vegetable cultivation in general. Key words: Leucinodes orbonalis, Brinjal, Organic ITK concoctions, Adoption pattern rinjal (Solanum melongena), also known as eggplant or aubergine belonging to the family Solanaceae, is one of the common and popular vegetables grown throughout the world including India. The origin of brinjal is claimed to be South-East Asia, probably India and the crop is extensively grown in France, Italy and Europe (Salunkhe et al. 1987). The brinjal crop is considered as cash crop vegetable by small and marginal farmers and if gives income in alternate days for cash income. In the state of Tamil Nadu production area for brinjal crop has increased from (12323 to12515 MT) in 2016-2017(Anonymous 2018). According to the Atwal and Dhaliwal (2005) the pest is widely distributed in Malaysia, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan, Germany and East Africa. The yield loss varies with different environmental condition but can cause yield loss up to 70-92 per cent (Adiroubane et al. 2008). The affected fruit are not used for consumption due to loss of market value and quality. The yield loss by this pest B 86