Vol. 17 No. 1
Seasonal incidence of insect pests on field pea in relation to some abiotic factors in lower Gangetic plains of West Bengal
Author(s): S. ROY AND A. BANERJEE
Abstract: The field experiment was laid out in the ‘A-B’ Block Farm of Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya during rabi season of two consecutive years (2016-17 and 2017-18) to determine the seasonal incidence of insect pests on two varieties of field pea viz. Rachna and HUDP 15 in lower Gangetic plains on West Bengal as well as to find out the impact of weather parameters on their incidence pattern. The experiment concludes four species of insects viz. gram pod borer, pulse aphid, flower thrips and hairy caterpillar causing noticeable damage and four other insect pest species were also recorded having minor importance. Peak larval population of gram pod borer was recorded at 9 weeks after sowing (WAS). Peak populations of flower thrips and pulse aphid were recorded at 11 WAS and hairy caterpillar reached its peak at 5 WAS. Gram pod borer population was non-significantly correlated with all the weather parameters in both the years of study irrespective of crop variety except it showed significant and positive correlation with wind speed in Rachna variety during first year only. Flower thrips population was significantly and positively correlated with maximum temperature and wind speed in both the varieties, however, only in case of HUDP 15, the correlation with minimum humidity was significant and negative during first year. However, the thrips population was significantly and negatively correlated with maximum humidity in both the varieties in second year. All the weather parameters showed nonsignificant correlation with aphid population in both varieties in two years besides a significant and positive association with wind speed during first year only. During 1st year, both the humidity was significantly and positively correlated with the hairy caterpillar population and bright sunshine hour was significantly and negatively correlated with the pest population in both varieties. Maximum temperature showed significant and negative correlation with the pest population in field pea var. HUDP 15 only. However, both the temperatures were significantly and negatively correlated with the hairy caterpillar population in field pea var. HUDP 15 only during 2nd year of experimentation.
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