Effect of meteorological factors on the population dynamics of insect pests of tomato

Abstract

The studies conducted during 2010 at Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology, Chatha, Jammu on meteorological parameters affecting insect pests attack in tomato cv. Pusa Ruby revealed that incidence of the fruit borer, aphids, leaf miner and whitefly population was observed in the 14 th standard week and their population peaked during the 21 st , 22 nd , 26 th and 22 nd standard week, respectively. Correlation studies revealed that weather parameters had significant effect on population build up of insect pests. The multiple linear regression analysis showed that all the weather parameters together were responsible for 97.10, 73.00, 96.70, 87.00 and 89.00 per cent (R 2 value) of total variation of fruit borer, aphid, mealy bug, leaf miner and whitefly population, respectively.