Host Preference, Mode of Damage and Succession of Major Insect Pests of Brinjal
Saifullah Omar Nasif
Department of Entomology, Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Shafiquzzaman Siddiquee *
Biotechnology Research Institute, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Jln UMS, 88400 Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
Brinjal is one of the most popular solanaceous vegetables worldwide because of its nutritive and nutraceutical values. In recent decades, brinjal cultivation has been experiencing increased biotic and abiotic stresses due to the climate changes, which had affected the cultivation practices, growers’ profit and consumers’ choice to a larger extent. Amongst different insect pests, brinjal shoot and fruit borer (BSFB) is the major one causing significant reduction in economic yield followed by epilachna beetle, aphid, jassid and whitefly. On the other hand, proper knowledge on nature of damage, host preference, and seasonal abundance of insect pests is a pre-requisite for development and deployment of an appropriate, effective and timely management strategy against the pests. A pool of literatures on host preferences, damage pattern and succession of major insect pests of brinjal has been reviewed and presented in this paper.
Keywords: Brinjal, insect pests, nutritive and nutraceutical values, vegetables