Brinjal fruit and shoot borer: identification and control

Photo at the top: A grown caterpillar is pink with a dark head, Photo: Mally R, Korycinska A, Agassiz DJL, Hall J, Hodgetts J, Nuss M, CC BY 3.0

Quick answer

The brinjal fruit and shoot borer (Leucinodes orbonalis) is a moth whose pink caterpillar bores into brinjal shoots and fruits. Shoot tips wilt and dry. Holed fruits rot inside and cannot be sold. Control it by destroying wilted shoots and holed fruits every week, setting pheromone traps, and spraying a label-approved insecticide when damage rises, changing the group each time.

It is one of the most damaging insect pests of brinjal (baingan in Hindi, vankaya in Telugu) in India. This guide shows how to spot it, how to keep it down without chemicals, and which label-approved sprays to use.

How to identify brinjal fruit and shoot borer

This pest hides inside the plant, so you see the damage before you see the insect.

• Wilted shoot tips: soon after transplanting, the young caterpillar enters the tender tip of a shoot. The tip droops, wilts and dries. Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU) calls these "dead hearts". Split the shoot and you will find a tunnel and often the caterpillar.
• Holes in fruits: later the caterpillar enters flower buds and fruits. TNAU notes that the bore holes are plugged with the insect's droppings. When the caterpillar is ready to leave, it cuts a bigger, round exit hole.
• Inside the fruit: cut a damaged fruit open. You will see a tunnel filled with wet, dark droppings and a rotting area.
• Flower buds drop: damaged buds fall before they open.
• Single leaves dry: TNAU also lists withering and drying of leaves. A young caterpillar can bore into a leaf stalk or the main vein of a leaf.

The insect at each stage

• Egg: tiny and creamy white. The moth lays eggs one by one on leaves, tender shoots, flower buds and young fruits.
• Caterpillar: creamy when young, then pink as it grows, with a dark brown head. A grown one is about 1.5–2 cm long.
• Pupa: inside a tough, grey, boat-shaped cocoon. It is found on the plant, on fallen leaves or in the soil.
• Moth: small and white, with brown and black patches on the wings. It is active at night and rests under leaves by day.

Look-alikes and how to tell them apart

• Fruit borer (Helicoverpa armigera): a bigger green or brown caterpillar that often feeds with its head inside the fruit and its body outside. The brinjal borer is pink and stays fully inside. See our Helicoverpa fruit borer guide.
• Bacterial wilt: the whole plant wilts, often suddenly, and there is no hole or tunnel in the shoot. With the borer, only the tip of one shoot wilts and you can find a hole.

Life cycle and when it attacks

In warm weather the eggs hatch in about 3–5 days. The caterpillar feeds inside the shoot or fruit for about 2–3 weeks. It then comes out and makes its cocoon, and the moth emerges in about a week or two. A full cycle takes about a month, so there are many generations in one crop.

The pest is present almost all year wherever brinjal is grown, and it builds up fast in warm, humid weather. In Telangana and Andhra Pradesh brinjal is grown in most seasons, so the borer is a constant problem. Growing brinjal in the same field again and again keeps the pest going, because cocoons and damaged fruits left in the field carry it to the next crop.

Crops it attacks

Brinjal: this is its main crop. The damage starts on shoot tips within a few weeks of transplanting. Once the plant flowers, the caterpillars move to flower buds and fruits, and fruit damage continues until the last picking. Since a single holed fruit cannot be sold, even a few caterpillars cause real loss.

When to spray (economic threshold)

We could not confirm a published economic threshold level (ETL, the pest level at which spraying starts to pay) for this pest from TNAU or another public source. Ask your local agriculture officer or Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK). In practice, walk the field every week from transplanting. Count wilted shoot tips and holed fruits. If the numbers rise even after you remove damaged parts, it is time for a spray.

How to control brinjal fruit and shoot borer without chemicals

• Cut wilted shoots: every week, cut each wilted shoot below the damaged part and destroy it. TNAU lists this as a key step.
• Remove damaged fruits: pick every holed fruit at each picking. Bury or burn them away from the field. Do not throw them on the bund, as the caterpillars will finish growing there.
• Pheromone traps: these traps use a scent to attract male moths. TNAU advises 12 traps per hectare (about 5 per acre). Use a lure made for the brinjal shoot and fruit borer.
• Crop rotation: TNAU advises against growing brinjal continuously in the same field. Rotate with a crop the pest does not attack.
• Variety choice: in areas where the pest is serious, TNAU suggests varieties with long, narrow fruits.
• Protect natural enemies: small wasps such as Pristomerus testaceus attack the caterpillars. TNAU advises avoiding synthetic pyrethroid sprays, which kill these helpers.
• Egg parasites: ICAR-Indian Institute of Horticultural Research (IIHR), Bengaluru, advises weekly releases of the tiny wasp Trichogramma chilonis, which kills the borer's eggs, along with pheromone traps. Ask your KVK where to get Trichogramma cards.
• Neem spray: TNAU lists neem seed kernel extract (NSKE) 5% as an option, starting about a month after planting.
• After the last harvest: remove and destroy old plants and fallen fruits, so cocoons do not carry over.

Insecticides for brinjal shoot and fruit borer

Only the products below have brinjal and this pest on their official label. Doses are per acre, worked out from the label. We show the label's own words for the pest. Use one product per spray. Do not mix products in one tank.

Brinjal

• Aston Insecticide (chlorantraniliprole 18.5% SC). Label target: "Fruit and shoot borer (Leucinoides orbonalis)". Label dose 81 ml per acre in 200–300 L water. Spray at ETL. Waiting period before harvest: 3 days.
• OMG Insecticide (chlorantraniliprole 18.5% SC, the same active ingredient as Aston). Label target: "Fruit and shoot borer (Leucinoides orbonalis)". Label dose 81 ml per acre in 200–300 L water. Waiting period: 3 days.
• Simodis Insecticide (isocycloseram 9.2% DC). Label target: "Shoot and fruit borer". Label dose 243 ml per acre in 200 L water. First spray at ETL, one more after 10–15 days if needed, and no more than two sprays per season. Waiting period: 5 days.
• Alecto Insecticide (broflanilide 20% SC). Label target: "Shoot & fruit borer". Label dose 51 g per acre in 200 L water. The label prints the dose in grams although Alecto is a liquid, so ask the store if you are unsure how to measure it. Waiting period: 1 day.
• Hamla 550 Insecticide (chlorpyrifos 50% + cypermethrin 5% EC). This is a ready-mixed product with two active ingredients, approved on the label as one product. Label target: "Shoot & Fruit Borer (Leucinoides orbonalis)". Label dose 405 ml per acre in 200 L water, when the pest is seen to cause economic loss. Waiting period: 7 days. Note that cypermethrin is a pyrethroid, the kind TNAU advises against when you want to protect natural enemies.

Brinjal is picked every few days. Plan each spray right after a picking, and do not pick again until the waiting period for that product is over.

Rotate to avoid resistance

Insecticides are grouped by how they kill the insect. This is called the mode of action, and the international IRAC system gives each group a number. Indian studies have found this borer resistant to many older insecticides. If you spray the same group again and again, the survivors breed and the next generation is harder to kill. So use a different group for each spray.

IRAC group	How it works (simple words)	Products here
28	Makes the caterpillar's muscles stop working, so it stops eating	Aston, OMG (same active ingredient)
30	Acts on the insect's nerves in a new way	Simodis, Alecto (same group)
1B + 3A	Two groups in one pack	Hamla 550

For example, if your first spray was Aston or OMG, use Simodis or Alecto next, not the other group 28 product. Do not use Simodis and Alecto one after the other, as they are in the same group.

Safety and waiting period

The waiting period (pre-harvest interval, or PHI) is the number of days between the last spray and the next picking. For brinjal it is 1 day for Alecto, 3 days for Aston and OMG, 5 days for Simodis and 7 days for Hamla 550, as printed on the labels.

• Wear gloves, a mask, full-sleeve clothes and boots while mixing and spraying. Wash well afterwards.
• Keep products locked away from children, animals and food.
• Brinjal flowers are visited by bees. Spray in the late evening, when bees are not flying, and follow any bee warning on the label.
• Wash fruits well before cooking or selling.

Read the label and leaflet before use.

Farmer questions on the brinjal borer

How do I control brinjal fruit and shoot borer?

Use several steps together. Cut wilted shoots and remove holed fruits every week, set pheromone traps, and avoid planting brinjal after brinjal. When damage keeps rising, spray a label-approved product such as Aston, OMG or Simodis at the label dose, and change the group for the next spray.

Why are the tips of my brinjal shoots wilting?

If one tip at a time droops and you can find a small hole and a tunnel inside, it is the shoot and fruit borer. If the whole plant wilts with no hole, it may be a wilt disease, so ask your agriculture officer.

When can I pick brinjal after spraying?

Only after the waiting period on the label. For the products above it ranges from 1 day (Alecto) to 7 days (Hamla 550).

Which insecticide controls brinjal fruit and shoot borer?

On our store, the products whose label names brinjal and this pest are Aston, OMG, Simodis, Alecto and Hamla 550. The dose per acre and waiting period for each are in the insecticides section above. Do not use the same group twice in a row.

Is the brinjal borer the same as tomato fruit borer?

No. Tomato fruit borer is Helicoverpa armigera, a different insect. The products and doses are not the same, so always check that the label names brinjal.

Related reading

• Helicoverpa armigera: fruit borer, pod borer and American bollworm control
• Jassids in cotton, okra and brinjal: how to identify and control leafhoppers
• Whitefly: how to identify it and choose a whitefly insecticide for cotton, brinjal and okra
• Red spider mite: how to identify and control it
• Boron deficiency in plants: symptoms in cotton, groundnut, tomato, chilli and brinjal
• Shop insecticides

Sources

• Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, TNAU Agritech Portal: Shoot and fruit borer of brinjal
• ICAR-Indian Institute of Horticultural Research, Bengaluru: Biological control of brinjal shoot and fruit borer
• Insecticide Resistance Action Committee (IRAC): Mode of Action Classification
• Official labels and leaflets of the products named above