Seasonal Incidence of Major Pests of Ash Gourd, Benincasa hispida Thunb. in Relation to Weather Parameters

Abstract— Studies on seasonal occurrence of major pests of ash gourd, Benincasa hispida Thunb. revealed that the incidence of Liriomyza trifolii Burgess and aphid, Myzus persicae Sulzer were highest during first week of October 2018 (SW 40) and first week of February 2019 (SW 05) respectively. Red pumpkin beetle, Aulacophora foveicollis Lucas and Pumpkin caterpillar, Diaphania indica Saunders were highest during second week of October 2018 (SW 41). The correlation and regression analyses showed that weather parameters significantly influenced the incidence of M. persicae, L. trifolli, A. foveicollis and D. indica as 38.34, 23.50, 19.88 and 31.23 per cent of total variation, respectively.