Effect of abiotic factors on seasonal incidence of tea mosquito bug, Helopeltis antonii Signoret of cashew in South Gujarat

Abstract

A study was carried out on cashew variety Vengurla-4 at farmer’s field in hilly area of the Dangs district, Gujarat, India during 2017-18 and 2018-19 to investigate the relationship of pest incidence with abiotic factors like temperature, humidity, sunshine, wind speed and evaporation. Regular weekly observations were recorded on the population and damage of tea mosquito bug from thirteen leader shoots in each direction (East, West, North and South) on three randomly selected trees. The meteorological data was collected for the study from meteorological observatory located at Hill Millet Research Station, Waghai, the Dangs, Gujarat for the period of two years. The activity of tea mosquito bug was initiated in the month of October. Thereafter, population and damage found increasing and it was maximum during January-February. After the month of February, the population went on decreasing slowly and almost absent by the end of April. Tea mosquito bug population and damage showed significant negative correlation with maximum temperature, minimum temperature and mean temperature.