Influence of environmental factors on seasonal incidence of lepidopteran pests of rice

Rice is one of the most important cereal crops grown throughout the world. Despite of using improved agronomic practices, we cannot get optimum production and productivity. Several factors are responsible for low productivity in rice. A wide range of insect pests are reported to attack rice plant at different stages of life cycle. Among several insect pests, lepidopteran pests such as yellow stem borer, rice leaf folder are considered as most destructive and responsible for severe yield losses. The incidence pattern of lepidopteran pests at different standard weeks was studied. Then effect of various environmental factors like rainfall, morning RH, evening RH, maximum temperature, minimum temperature, average temperature was established by calculating correlation coefficients. It provides as a reference for selecting suitable management practices for reducing pest population.