STUDIES ON POPULATION DYNAMICS OF MAJOR PESTS OF GUAVA AND THEIR NATURAL ENEMIES IN DHARWAD KARNATAKA INDIA

Studies on population dynamics of major pests of guava revealed that, the highest infestation of sucking pests such as tea mosquito bug, mealy bug and spiraling whitefly was recorded during the second fortnight of October.Further, the highest incidence of fruit fly was noticed during September first fortnight.The peak population of natural predators such as coccinellids, reduviids and spiders was noticed in second fortnight of October.The correlation analysis showed that, all the sucking pests except tea mosquito bug and predators had significantly negative correlation with relative humidity and rainfall, but a non-significant positive correlation with the minimum temperature and significantly positive with the maximum temperature.