Effect of meteorological parameters on seasonal incidence of insect-pests in rice ecosystem

Understanding the relationship between meteorological parameters and insect pest incidence is essential for timely pest management and sustainable rice production. Therefore, a field experiment was conducted during kharif 2024 at the student’s instructional farm, Acharya Narendra Deva University of Agriculture and Technology, Kumarganj, Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh, India, to evaluate the influence of meteorological parameters on major insect pests of rice. Pest incidence was monitored from the 31st–46th standard meteorological weeks (SMW) and correlated with weather variables. The incidence of yellow stem borer varied from 1.08 % dead hearts during the 31st SMW to16.48 % during the 38th SMW, while white ear incidence ranged from 5.68 % during the 42nd SMW to 10.19 % during the 44th SMW. Leaf folder infestation varied from 1.73 % during the 31st SMW to 17.00 % during the 41st SMW. The population of gundhi bug population ranged from 0.47–14.40 bugs per sweep (35th–41st SMW). Brown plant hopper (BPH) (2.33–12.27 insects per hill) and green leaf hopper (1.07–10.47 insects per sweep) populations peaked during the 41st SMW, while grasshopper population ranged from 1.00–4.07 insects per sweep. Correlation analysis revealed a significant positive relationship between yellowstem borer incidence and minimum temperature (r = 0.455, p ≤ 0.01), whereas gundhi bug population showed a significant negative correlation with wind speed (r = -0.338, p ≤ 0.01). Maximum temperature exhibited a significant positive correlation with BPH population (r = 0.409, p ≤ 0.01).