Study on impact of weather parameters on population dynamics of whorl maggot infestation under staggered planting condition in aromatic varieties of rice

The present study was conducted to investigate the effect of weather parameters on population dynamics of Whorl Maggot (WM) and its correlation thereon under the staggered planting condition with 12 different dates starting from 16^th July 2017 to 1^st January 2018 at 15 days interval by inclusion of three aromatic varieties of rice viz., Geetanjali, Poorna Bhog and Pusa Sugandh –II. The population of WM was built up from August to December, but the highest infestation was observed during the 1^st week of December in the 1^st week of November planting date whereas, the second peak infestation was observed during 1st week of September in 1^st August planting date. The correlation between WM infestation and different weather parameters revealed that, there is a significant correlation only in three dates of planting viz., during 1^st August, 16^th August and 1^st November out of 12 planting dates. The WM infestation was found positively correlated with rainfall. It was also found positively correlated with afternoon relative humidity.