Influence of weather factors on light trap catches of green leaf hopper at Pattambi, Kerala

Abstract

In the present study, data of green leaf hopper for two species, namely, Nephotettix nigropictus (Nn) and Nephotettix virescens (Nv) have been used. First peak was observed for both the species during 38th to 41st standard meteorological week, the second peak was observed during 45th std. week and the third peak was observed during 52nd to 2nd std. week (i. e. from last week of December to 2nd week of January of the succeeding year) for all study years. Overall, around six overlapping generations of green leaf hopper appeared from March to November and were found most active during tillering to panicle initiation stages of the crop. The correlation studies between light trap net sweep collection with weather parameters on population build-up showed that lower minimum temperature, low rainfall and abundant sunshine had major impact on population build up of green leaf hopper for both the species.

Keywords

• Green leafhopper
• population dynamics
• weather parameters and photoperiods