THE EFFECT OF WOOD VINEGAR AS FOLIAR INSECTICIDE ON EGGPLANT (Solanum melongena)

Wood vinegar is a Japanese technology developed to introduce an alternative way to lessen use of farm chemicals, increase crop resistance to post and diseases, minimize soil drying, prevent unnecessary loss of soil nutrients and serve as repellent, herbicide and fungicide. Thus, this study was conducted to investigate the efficacy of wood vinegar as a pesticide. Specifically, it aims to determine which concentration of wood vinegar is appropriate for pest control on eggplant, to determine the effect of wood vinegar on the yield of eggplant and to determine the effectiveness of wood vinegar at different concentrations. This study used a Randomized Complete Block Design having five treatments with three replications. The treatments were Control (without insecticide), 0.09% wood vinegar, 0.19% wood vinegar, 0.28% wood vinegar and 0.06% Cypermethrin, recommended rate for this commercial insecticide. Treatment applications started 15 days after transplanting (DAT) and every two weeks thereafter with a spray volume of 120 mL for each replicate until 44 DAT. Data gathered were plant height, number of marketable and non- marketable fruits, total fruits per plant, fruit yield, pest data and cost and return analysis. There were no significant differences among treatments for plant height, number of marketable and non-marketable fruits per plant, total fruits per plant and fruit yield. However, the severity of damage by fruit borer and minor pests was significant among treatments where crop damage decreases with increased concentration of wood vinegar. The 0.28% wood vinegar has the lowest severity damage by fruit borer at 1.39% and minor pests at 8.00%, lower than the commercial insecticide, Cypermethrin. Therefore, 0.28% wood vinegar is recommended as botanical insecticide in eggplant.