Int.J.Curr.Microbiol.App.Sci (2017) 6(12): 1088-1093 1088 Original Research Article https://doi.org/10.20546/ijcmas.2017.612.123 Seasonal Incidence of Brinjal Shoot and Fruit Borer, Leucinodes orbonalis Guene, (Lepidoptera: Crambidae) During Kharif Season Chetan Nandi 1 , Gangadhar Narabenchi 1 , Sanjeev Jakatimath 2* and M.V. Prafulkumar 3 1 Department of Entomology, College of Horticulture, UHS, Bagalkot-587104, Karnataka, India 2 Department of Plant Pathology, COH, Bagalkot, UHS, Bagalkot-587104, Karnataka, India 3 Department of Plant Pathology, COB, Bangalore, UHS, BAGAlkot-587104, Karnataka, India *Corresponding author ABSTRACT Introduction Brinjal (Solanum melongena L.) is one of the most important vegetables in South Asia which accounts for almost fifty per cent of the world’s area under cultivation and also popular in some parts of Africa and Central America (Harish et al., 2011). The area under brinjal cultivation in India is estimated at 7.22 lakh ha under cultivation with a production of 134.43 metric tons and productivity of 18.60 tonnes per hectare. In Karnataka, brinjal is cultivated over an area of 16.10 thousand ha with a production of 421.40 thousand tones (Annon, 2014). Unripe fruits are used primarily as vegetable in the country due to its nutritive value, as fruits are consisting of minerals like iron, phosphorous, calcium and vitamins like A, B and C, (Singh et al., 1963). It has been reported as Ayurvedic medicine for curing the diabetes. In addition it is used as a good appetizer, good aphrodisiac, cardiotonic, laxative and reliever of inflammation. Brinjal plants are very much susceptible to insect pests attack right from seedling stage to final harvesting stage. Brinjal is attacked by 53 species of insect pests of which 8 are considered as major pests causing enormous damage to crop in every season in every year (Biswas et al., 1992). Among the major insect pests, brinjal shoot and fruit borer (BSFB), Leucinodes orbonalis International Journal of Current Microbiology and Applied Sciences ISSN: 2319-7706 Volume 6 Number 12 (2017) pp. 1088-1093 Journal homepage: http://www.ijcmas.com The field experiments were carried out at College of Horticulture, UHS, Bagalkot during kharif season of 2014-2015. The experiment was laid out in a Randomized Block Design. The peak shoot infestation was noticed around eighth week after transplantation during kharif season. Similarly, the fruit infestation was reached its maximum at 12 th weeks after transplantation during kharif season. The incidence of Leucinodes orbonalis on brinjal shoots showed non-significant positive correlation with the maximum temperature, average temperature and rainfall. Whereas, the minimum temperature, morning relative humidity and evening relative humidity recorded non-significant negative correlation with shoot incidence. The incidence of L. orbonalis on brinjal fruits indicated non-significant positive correlation with maximum temperature. Whereas, the other weather parameters like minimum and average temperature, morning and evening relative humidity and rainfall showed non-significant negative correlation with fruit incidence. Keywords Brinjal shoot and fruit borer, Leucinodes orbonalis. Accepted: 10 October 2017 Available Online: 10 December 2017 Article Info