Influence of weather parameters on the incidence of natural enemies in rice ecosystem

A field experiment were undertaken at S. K. College of Agriculture and Research Station, Kawardha, during Kharif 2018 to assess the influence of weather parameters on the incidence of natural enemies viz., staphylinid beetle, rove beetle, earwig, ladybird beetle, ground beetle and mirid bug through light trap catches in rice ecosystem. Light trap catches were recorded at weekly interval during 27th Standard Meteorological Week (SMW) to 48th Standard Meteorological Week (SMW) and the data were correlated with the weather parameters which, indicates that September to November is the period of maximum activity of major rice natural enemies. Staphylinid beetle showed significant positive correlation with RH-II and rove beetle showed significant positive correlation with sunshine hours with r value of 0.606 and 0.563, while, staphylinid beetle showed significant negative correlation with sunshine hours and rove beetle with minimum temperature with r value of -0.448 and -0.810, respectively. Ear wig, ground beetle and mired bug showed significant positive correlation with Sunshine hours with r value 0.453, 0.491 and 0.587, respectively, however, ear wig and ground beetle showed significant negative correlation with minimum temperature with r value of -0.756 and -0.853, respectively. Rove beetle and mirid bug showed significant negative correlation with minimum temperature with r value of -0.810 and -0.853, respectively. All the recorded weather parameters (viz Maximum temperature, minimum temperature, rainfall, RH-I, RH-II and sunshine) and the population of predator lady bird beetle showed non-significant correlation in the light trap.