~ 1007 ~ The Pharma Innovation Journal 2023; 12(1): 1007-1013 ISSN (E): 2277-7695 ISSN (P): 2349-8242 NAAS Rating: 5.23 TPI 2023; 12(1): 1007-1013 © 2023 TPI www.thepharmajournal.com Received: 03-11-2022 Accepted: 09-12-2022 VK Bhamare Department of Agricultural Entomology, College of Agriculture, Latur, Maharashtra, India DS Thengade Department of Agricultural Entomology, College of Agriculture, Latur, Maharashtra, India ND Zatale Department of Agricultural Entomology, College of Agriculture, Latur, Maharashtra, India VM Doke Department of Plant Pathology, College of Agriculture, Latur, Maharashtra, India SV Babhare Department of Agricultural Entomology, College of Agriculture, Latur, Maharashtra, India VS Gambhire Department of Agricultural Entomology, College of Agriculture, Latur, Maharashtra, India HN Patel Department of Agricultural Entomology, College of Agriculture, Latur, Maharashtra, India Corresponding Author: ND Zatale Department of Agricultural Entomology, College of Agriculture, Latur, Maharashtra, India Effect of weather parameters on population dynamics of sucking insect-pests and their natural enemies infesting rabi maize VK Bhamare, DS Thengade, ND Zatale, VM Doke, SV Babhare, VS Gambhire and HN Patel Abstract The investigations conducted at Research Farm of Department of Agricultural Entomology, College of Agriculture, Latur (VNKMV, Parbhani) during rabi season 2020-2021 revealed that R. maidis reached its peak population in 7 th SMW (70.8 aphids per plant) during rabi season. Correlation studies evidenced that none of the weather parameters had significant effect on population of R. maidis. N. viridula reached its peak population in 3 rd SMW (0.92 bug per plant) during rabi season. Correlation studies evidenced that before noon relative humidity and afternoon relative humidity had significantly direct positive effect on population of N. viridula, while wind speed had significantly negative effect on N. viridula population. P. perpusilla reached its peak population in 2 nd SMW (0.95 adult per plant) during rabi season. Correlation studies revealed that before noon relative humidity correlated positively, whereas wind speed correlated negatively with population of P. perpusilla. Spiders reached its peak population in 7 th SMW (5.00 spiders per quadrat) during rabi season. Correlation studies revealed that minimum temperature had negative relationship with population of spiders. Ladybird beetles and Earwig reached their peak population in 7 th SMW (20.00 beetles per quadrat) and in 5 th SMW (11.00 earwigs per quadrat) respectively during rabi season Correlation studies revealed that the weather parameters did not show any significant influence on population of ladybird beetles as well as earwigs. Keywords: Population dynamics, abiotic factor, maize, R. maidis, N. viridula and P. perpusilla Introduction Maize (Zea mays L.) “Queen of cereals” belongs to the family Graminae or Poaceae is an important grain crop mainly utilized as feed, food and raw material for diverse industrial applications globally. Among cereals, maize occupies the third place after wheat and rice and is a staple food for a large segment of population worldwide (Chaudhary et al., 2014) [7] . Globally maize is cultivated over an area of more than 193.25 million hectares in about 165 countries with 1116.34 million tonnes of production and 5.78 tonnes per ha of productivity during 2019-2020. In India, maize is cultivated on an area of 9.72 million hectares with 28.63 million tonnes of production and 2.94 tonnes per hectare of productivity during 2019-2020. The predominant maize growing states that contributes more than 85 per cent of the total maize production in India are Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat. In Maharashtra, the area under maize crop is 0.93 million hectares with 1.77 million tonnes of production and 1.90 tonnes per hectare of productivity during 2018-2019. Maize, being a C4 plant, has a greater yield potential as compared to other cereals (Scott and Emery, 2016) [32] , but attack of insect-pests at various crop growth stages from sowing to maturity poses serious limitation in full manifestation of yield potential during different seasons. There is report of 250 pests attacking maize (Mathur, 1992) [18] but only a dozen of pests is quite serious and require control measures (Siddiqui and Marwaha, 1994) [32] . Besides these many other insect-pests are reported in different parts of the country. The global climate change signifies increase in average temperature, change in the rainfall pattern and enormous climatic events. These seasonal and long term variations would influence the fauna, flora and population dynamics of insect-pests. The weather parameters are known to have direct impact on population dynamics of insect-pests and their natural enemies through inflection of developmental rates, survival, fecundity, voltinism and dispersal (Karuppaiah and Sujayanad, 2012) [10] .