Climate change and its impact on insect-pest incidence of dry land crops in the scarcity zone of Maharashtra state

Abstract

The recent impact of climate change influencing insect-pest incidence in important dry land crops revealed that incidence of insect-pests during last decade viz., sorghum shoot fly (5-13% dead hearts), stem borer (2-10% dead hearts), delphacids (4-5 to 12-15 Nos./ shoot/plant) increased, respectively. Sunflower bud necrosis was increased from 4-5% to 9-10% whereas on safflower the occurrence of three new emerging pests viz., leaf eating caterpillar, stem borer and stem fly was also noticed to the extent of 15-18% infestation. Castor semi-looper and capsule borer were increased respectively @ 3-6 larvae/leaf/plant to 9-10 larvae/leaf/plant and 8-10% capsule damage to 12-15% capsule damage. The congenial climate condition required for the survival and development of sorghum shoot fly is min. 22 0 C and max. 37 0 C temp., RH-I 44% and RH-II 93%, stem borer min. 19 0 C and max. 36 0 C temp., RH-I 38% and RH-II 94%, delphacids min. 18 0 C and max. 30 0 C temp., RH-I 35% and RH-II 75%, safflower aphid min. 10 0 C and max. 28 0 C temp., RH-I 40% and RH-II 60%, safflower caterpillar min. 19 0 C and max. 33 0 C temp., RH-I 50% and RH-II 80%, chickpea pod borer min. 20 0 C and max. 35 0 C temp. with cloudy and hot weather, sunflower bihar hairy caterpillar min. 22 0 C and max. 34 0 C temp, pigeon pea pod borer min. 30 0 C and max. 33 0 C temp. and castor semi-looper min. 22 0 C and max. 35 0 C temp., RH-I 50% and RH-II 73%.