Succession and incidence of sucking insect pests and their natural enemies on Indian bean, Lablab purpureus var. typicus (L.) sweet in relation to meteorological parameters

Abstract

Studies on succession and incidence of sucking insect pests and their natural enemies on Indian bean, Lablab purpureus var. typicus (L.) Sweet were conducted to espy the influence of weather parameters on occurrence and abundance of sucking insect pests. It was noticed that infestation of the aphid commenced in the third week of August (34th SMW) and leafhopper and whitefly in the second week of August (33rd SMW). The peak population of aphid (196.8 aphids/ plant) was recorded in the second week of October (41st SMW), leafhopper (20.4/ three leaves) in the fourth week of September (39th SMW) and whitefly (27.2/ three leaves) in the first week of October (40th SMW). The minimum temperature showed a positive significant correlation with leafhopper and whitefly population (r= 0.83 & 0.64). The relative humidity showed negative significant correlation (r= -0.74) with aphid population. The population of both the predators showed a significant positive correlation with the population of sucking insect pests.