Shot hole borer (Euwallacea fornicates) management practices followed by Pomegranate growers

The study was conducted in purposively selected Sangola and Pandharpur tahsils of Solapur district focused on understanding the relationship between shot hole borer management practices among pomegranate growers and various independent variables. Utilizing an ex-post facto research design, data were gathered from a sample of 120 pomegranate growers through a pre-structured interview schedule. About 55.00 percent of pomegranate growers were middle aged; about 46.67 percent of pomegranate growers were educated up to higher secondary level, more than half (i.e. 51.67%) had low level of annual income, about 45.00 percent had small size of land holding. Majority (i.e. 53.33%) pomegranate growers had small area under pomegranate cultivation, about 40.83 per cent had fair extension contact, about 44.17 percent of pomegranate growers had fair social participation. More than half (i.e. 52.50%) had medium level of risk orientation and 48.33 percent of pomegranate growers had low level of knowledge about shot hole borer management practices. About 65.83 percent of the pomegranate growers had followed low level of shot hole borer management practices The results indicated that several independent variables specifically education, size of land holding, area under pomegranate cultivation, annual income, extension contact, social participation, risk orientation, and knowledge were positively and significantly related to the management practices of shot hole borer. Conversely, age was found to have a negative significant relationship with these management practices. This highlights the importance of educational initiatives and extension services in enhancing pestmanagement strategies among pomegranate growers.