External symptoms appear in the form of a bored hole. Initially, the larvae feed on tender foliage but later on it moves on to flower buds, flowers and developing fruits. The caterpillars make holes into fruits by keeping half of their body inside the fruits and half outside and render them unfit for market. It can be controlled by transplanting crop late in summer (June) escapes the damage of fruit borer. Inundative release of egg parasitoid, Trichogramma chilonis and T. brasssiliensis @ 50,000-75,000 adults/ha Apply nuclear polyhedrosis virus (NPV) @ 250-500 LE/ha Application of Bacillus thuringiensis alone (1.0 litre/ ha) at flowering and fruit setting stage Foliar application of carbaryl (0.1%)/ deltamethrin (0.0028%) and acephate (0.05%) when one larva per five plants is observed. Observe a waiting period of 10 days before picking fruits. Use of African marigold as trap crop.
What are the damage symptoms of tomato fruit borer and how it can be controlled?
