~ 1369 ~ Journal of Entomology and Zoology Studies 2018; 6(2): 1369-1373 E-ISSN: 2320-7078 P-ISSN: 2349-6800 JEZS 2018; 6(2): 1369-1373 © 2018 JEZS Received: 26-01-2018 Accepted: 28-02-2018 Amit Kumar Division of Entomology, Faculty of Agriculture, Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences &Technology of Jammu, Chatha, Jammu and Kashmir, India Virender Kaul Division of Entomology, Faculty of Agriculture, Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences & Technology of Jammu, Chatha, Jammu and Kashmir, India Uma Shankar Division of Entomology, Faculty of Agriculture, Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences &Technology of Jammu, Chatha, Jammu and Kashmir, India Correspondence Uma Shankar Division of Entomology, Faculty of Agriculture, Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences &Technology of Jammu, Chatha, Jammu and Kashmir, India Response of Brinjal ( Solanum melongena Guen.) varieties for the resistant reaction against Brinjal shoot and fruit borer (BSFB) and red spider mites (RSM) Amit Kumar, Virender Kaul and Uma Shankar Abstract An experiment was conducted to evaluate the response of twenty five brinjal varieties against brinjal shoot and fruit borer (Leucinodes orbonalis) and red spider mite (Tetranychus cinnabarinus) during 2014 and 2015 at research farm of Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Jammu, Chatha. The pooled data for the both the years of the study revealed that the ten varieties were showed tolerance, the five varieties were found moderately tolerant, the eight varieties were susceptible and the two varieties found highly susceptible reaction against brinjal shoot and fruit borer. Similarly, the response of brinjal varieties against red spider mite showed that the three varieties were moderately tolerant, the four varieties had low resistance, five varieties were found susceptible and thirteen varieties of brinjal were recorded as highly susceptible. The present research findings advocate that the varieties showed promise against these dreaded pests helped the farmers to fetch more remuneration from the crops and provide security for subsistence and livelihood. Keywords: Response, resistance, Brinjal shoot and fruit borer, Leucinodes orbonalis, Red spider mite, Tetranychus cinnabarinus Introduction India has progressed as one of the leading vegetable producers in the world with a total annual production of 162.18 million tonnes with 17.6 MT/ha productivity from an area of 8.99 million hectares [1] . Jammu and Kashmir State accounts for 1395.5 MT total vegetable production from 631 ha land with 22.1 MT/ha productivity [1] . Among the vegetable crops, Brinjal (Solanum melongena Guen.) is an important and demand driven vegetable crop grown throughout the world and cultivated in all the tropical, sub-tropical and temperate zones. It is one of the most common and popular vegetables cultivated in approximate 7.11 lakh hectare area with the annual production of 13.56 mt with productivity of 19.1 t/ha in India [2] . Insect pest and disease infestation is one of the major constraints in increasing the yield potential in brinjal [3] . However, in recent years the production of brinjal has been seriously affected due to a steady increase in insect pest infestation, especially the fruit and shoot borer (BSFB), Leucinodes orbaonalis Guenn. (Pyralidae: Lepidoptera) which reduce the productivity as well as quality of the fruits. BSFB is practically monophagous but other plants belonging to family Solanaceae are reported to be the hosts of this pest. Due to concealed mode of life, BSFB is the most serious pest of brinjal [4] and hard to control with the repeated application of insecticides. The yield losses caused by Leucinodes orbonalis have been estimated up to 70-92 percent [5, 3, 6] . Besides BSFB attack, brinjal crops are also susceptible to a large magnitude of insect pests and non insect pest such as red spider mites (Tetranychus cinnabarinus) which pose a heavy toll to brinjal cultivation by continuous sucking the sap, formation of web and depletion of chlorophyll contents and thereby inflicting losses ranging from 30 to 40 percent [7] . Materials and Methods An experiment was conducted to evaluate the response of twenty five brinjal varieties against brinjal shoot and fruit borer (Leucinodes orbonalis) and red spider mite (Tetranychus cinnabarinus) during 2014 and 2015 at research farm of Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Jammu, Chatha. The experiment was laid out in a randomized block design with three replication to evaluate the response of twenty five