© J. ent. Res., 42 (4) : 499-502 (2018) DOI : 10.5958/0974-4576.2018.00083.X Monitoring of gram pod borer through sex pheromone traps in chickpea and their correlation with abiotic factors R.K. Meena, A.R. Naqvi, D.S. Meena and A.K. Meena * Department of Entomology, Swami Keshwanand Rajasthan Agricultural University, Bikaner - 334 006, Rajasthan, India ABSTRACT The male moth catches in traps commenced from the 4 th week of November, 2015 and continued upto 2 nd week of April, 2016. In the traps where septa were replaced at 15 days intervals, the population attained peak during the 11 th standard week registering 49.4 moths/trap/week. More or less same order of moth catches was observed in another traps in which septa were changed after every 30 days interval but, quantum of moth catches was slightly lower. The maximum temperature (r = 0.581 and r = 0.546), minimum temperature (r = 0.555 and r = 0.525), total rainfall (r = 0.592 and r = 0.606) and sunshine hours (r = 0.551 and r = 0.531) resulted positive signifcant where septa were replaced after 15 and 30 days interval, respectively. Key words : Monitoring, Helicoverpa armigera, chickpea, pheromone traps, abiotic factors. INTRODUCTION Gram pod borer, Helicoverpa armigera (Hübner) is a pest causing damage from vegetative to podding stage (Dhingra et al., 2003). Although it is a polyphagous pest but chickpea is the most preferred host of this species and suffers losses to the tune of 25 to 70 per cent (Tripathi and Sharma, 1984). The larvae of gram pod borer damage leaves, stem, pods and seeds of gram. Newly emerged larvae feed on the chlorophyll content of the leaf but later on they act as defoliator and feed on the buds and tender pods. While the grown up larvae bore into the pods by thrusting their head inside and leaving the body half exposed thus, completely devouring the grain and leaving the empty shells. A single larva alone can destroy 30 to 40 pods before the maturity (Reed and Pawar, 1982). The higher acreage and low productivity in gram depends on number of constraints, amongst them insect-pest has been recognized as one of the major constraint. In order to prevent the losses caused by insects and to produce a quality crop, it is essential to manage the pest population at appropriate time with suitable measures. A thorough knowledge of seasonal activity of different insect pests determines the predisposing climatic factors affecting their population dynamics. Monitoring of adult moths with pheromone traps is one of the important components in the integrated pest management of H. armigera. Pawar et al. (1988) and Srivastava et al. (1990) extensively studied the monitoring of H. armigera using pheromone traps. However, the pest monitoring is only reliable, if the relationship between the pheromone trap catches and the corresponding feld population estimate are good and consistent across time. A number of workers like Srivastava et al. (1990), Kaushal (1997) and Visalakshmi et al. (2000) studied the relationship between moth activity and actual feld infestation with a view to explore the possibility of predicting larval population in the feld on the basis of pheromone trap catch data. Therefore, the present investigation was undertaken to monitor the activity of adult moths of H. armigera in the chickpea feld through pheromone traps and study the relationship between pheromone trap catches and with abiotic factors. MATERIALS AND METHODS The experiment was carried out during 2015-16 at Research farm of College of Agriculture, SKRAU, Bikaner (Rajasthan). The funnel traps with septa were used for trapping the moths of H. armigera. Six sex pheromone traps were installed in the gram feld at a distance of 50 m each. The traps were placed in the feld on bamboo at 2 feet above the height of crop canopy. Septa were changed after *Corresponding author's present address: Rajasthan College of Agriculture, Maharana Pratap University of Agriculture and Technology, Udaipur - 313 001, Rajasthan, India; E-mail: akmeenaentomology@gmail.com