Abstract

The impact of weather parameters on population fluctuation of cotton mealybug, Phenacoccus solenopsis Tinsley was evaluated for monitoring the seasonal and annual trend of 2010–11 and 2011–12 at Institutional Research Farm of Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Kalyani, Nadia, West Bengal, India. The mealybug population was found to be increasing during 11th and 9th weeks in 2011 and 2012, respectively, after sowing of cotton i. e. the 8th and 6th standard weeks during respective years. The peak population 81.37 per 10 cm upper shoot was recorded during 14th standard week in 2011 and 127.44 during 16th standard week in 2012. Correlation studies revealed that population of mealybugs exhibited a significant positive correlation (r=0.733 and r=0.780) with minimum temperature, but significant negative correlation with relative humidity (r=0.646 and r=0.689) and rainfall (r=0.566 and r=0.523) during 2011 and 2012, respectively.