Assessing the Potential Impact of Garden Egg Germplasm on Egg Fruit and Shoot Borer (Leucinodes orbonalis) Infestation in Umudike

The present investigation is carried out to study the performance of five garden egg cultivars against Leucinodes orbonalis Guenee in South-eastern agroecology of Nigeria in 2014 and 2015 cropping seasons at the National Root Crops Research Institute (NRCRI) Umudike, Research Farm. The trials were arranged in the Randomized Complete Block Design with five replicates and analyses were done by pooling over two years due to insignificant genotype Х year interactions. Results of the study indicate significant variations amongst the cultivars for the agronomic and damage attributes. Lowest number of fruits (4.47) was damaged in Ngwa large (V5). However, highest number of damaged fruits (10.30) was recorded in Sweet white (V3). With respect to yield parameters, highest; fruit weight per plant and fruit yield were observed in Sweet white (V3) with values of 1.19kg and 14.28t/ha respectively. Results from rank summation index (RSI) shows that Ngwa large (V5) is the best performer with RSI value of 17. Fruit yield was significantly and positively correlated with number of branches per plant (r = 0.40*), number of fruit per plant (r = 1.00**), Plant height (r = 0.60*) and fruit weight per plant (r = 1.00**) and recorded negatively and non- significant relationships with number of damage fruit per plant (r = -0.30) and Percentage fruit damage per plant (r = -0.50).