Filipino Researchers Develop Motion Tracker for Eggplant's Most Vicious Pest

In the Philippines, the eggplant fruit and shoot borer (EFSB) is the most destructive insect pest of eggplant, and farmers rely heavily on insecticides to fight the pest. This practice is not sustainable and poses harm to farmers' health and the environment.

To identify eggplant varieties with tolerance or resistance genes to EFSB, a team of researchers from various institutions at the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB) in partnership with UP Diliman developed software that tracks EFSB. The software is called the EFSB Motion Tracking Software, a low-cost innovative technology that tracks the EFSB larva among fruit slices representing different eggplant genotypes. It uses video motion tracking algorithms to design and develop a computer program that would enable researchers to track and document the larval movement and feeding preference in a precise, rapid, and simple manner using minimal effort.

The UPLB-UP Diliman partnership will help ease the evaluation of the feeding preference of EFSB and identify sources o their resistance to feeding damage. It also requires a minimal number of samples and can be adapted to other lepidopteran insects.

To learn more about this technology, visit the National Science and Technology Week virtual exhibit or download this flyer.