Abstract:
The studies on diversity of insect fauna and the population dynamics of early shoot borer in sugarcane ecosystem were carried out for two seasons during 2014-15 and 2015-16 at Norman E. Borlaug Crop Research Centre of G.B.P.U.A & T. Pantnagar, Uttarakhand, India. Early shoot borer or shoot borer,
Chilo infuscutellus (Pyralidae: Lepidoptera) is spread extensively in all sugarcane growing areas of the country including Uttarakhand. The incidence of the Shoot borer was observed from 14
th standard meteorological week (SMW) to 26
th standard meteorological week, during both the crop seasons of 2014-15 and 2015-16. The population reached its maximum in the month of May; however the peak activity recorded in the 21
st and 22
nd SMW during both the first and second seasons, respectively. The Pearson correlation coefficient obtained between the weather parameters and early shoot borer population during season 2014-15 revealed that, there was positive non-significant correlation with T
max and T
min; negative and highly significant with RH
max, and negative significant with RH
min; while, it was non-significantly correlated with rainfall, respectively. Whereas, during the season 2015-16 there was positive and highly significant correlation with T
max; positive and non-significant correlation with T
min; negative significant with RH
max; negative and highly significant with RH
min, and it was negative significantly correlated with rainfall, respectively. Thus the study exhibited that the peak activity of early shoot borer was from 15
th to 24
th and 15
th to 23
rd SMW during 2014-15 and 2015-16 crop seasons, respectively.