Study on Population Dynamics of Insect Pests of Cowpea in Gird Region of Madhya Pradesh, India

A field experiment was conducted at Research Farm, Rajmata Vijyaraje Scindia Krishi Vishwa Vidyalaya, Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh during the Kharif season 2022-23. To study the population dynamics of insect pests of cowpea during Kharif, 2022, incidence of insect pests was observed on kharif cowpea, namely aphid, Aphis craccivora (Koch) thrips, Megleurothrips distalis (karny), Jassid, Empoasca kerri (Pruthi) and whiteflies, Acaudaleyrodes rachipora (Singh). Results revealed that the A. craccivora population first became apparent in the third week of August (33rd SMW) with 7.43. The activeness of A. craccivora per plant (19.89) was at peak level was recorded in the 37th standard week. The infestation of E. kerri and A. rachipora commenced in the second week of August (32nd SMW) with a mean population of 0.91 E. kerri per plant and 1.89 A. rachipora per plant. At second week of September (36th SMW), the mean value of E. kerri and A. rachipora population was reached their highest activity with 10.24 E. kerri and 5.45 A. rachipora per plant. M. distalis population appeared in first time in the fourth week of August (34th SMW) with 2.72 M. distalis per plant. The peak activity of M. distalis (6.89) was recorded in the 37th standard week, or the second week of September. The population of A. rachipora and E. Kerri showed a highly significant positive correlation with minimum temperature (r= 0.738*) and (r= 0.582*), and A. rachipora showed a positive correlation with maximum temperature (r= 0.580*) respectively. However, the population of A. craccivora and M. distalis showed a significant negative correlation with evening relative humidity (r= -0.519*) and (r= -0.582*).