Seasonal incidence and correlation of brinjal shoot and fruit borer (Leucinodes orbonalis) with weather parameters during kharif season

The field experiment was carried out at research farm, Division of Entomology, Dr Sharadchandra Pawar College of Agriculture, Baramati. during kharif 2024. The experiment was laid out in a Randomized Block Design. The brinjal seedlings were transplanted in 34th SMW. In brinjal the shoot and fruit borer (L. orbonalis) appeared to damage the shoot as well as fruit. Initially shoot infestation of 2.28% was recorded in the 38th SMW, shortly after transplanting, under specific temperature and humidity conditions. The infestation peaked at 28.34% during the 44th SMW. Correlation indicated a significant positive relationship between shoot infestation and maximum temperature (r = 0.475) and sunshine hours (r = 0.476), Whereas, non-significant positive correlation with minimum temperature (r = 0.067), morning relative humidity (r = 0.076) and rainfall (r = 0.099) while evening relative humidity (r = -0.226) and wind velocity (r = -0.390) showed non-significant negative correlations. Fruit infestation, attributed to the shoot and fruit borer, was first noted in the 40th SMW recording Percent fruit infestation 8.56%. The highest infestation rate of 31.25% occurred in the 49th SMW. The lowest rate was recorded in the 40th SMW. For fruit infestation, a significant positive correlation was found with sunshine hours (r = 0.479) and maximum temperature (r = 0.120) showed non-significant positive correlation, while a significant negative correlation was observed with evening relative humidity (r = -0.647) and wind velocity (r = -0.708). Besides other factors such as morning relative humidity (r = -0.312), minimum temperature (r = -0.425) and rainfall (r = -0.254) showed non-significant negative correlations with fruit infestation.