Int.J.Curr.Microbiol.App.Sci (2019) 8(6): 678-683 678 Original Research Article https://doi.org/10.20546/ijcmas.2019.806.078 Incidence of Maize Stem Borer, Chilo partellus (Swinhoe) in Relation to Abiotic Factors on Maize Insha Hamid 1* , R.K. Nehru 1 , A.R. Wani 1 , S.S. Pathania 1 , Qurat Ul Ain 1 and Furqan Hamid 2 1 Division of Entomology, 2 Division of Economics, Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Science & Technology, Kashmir, (J. & K.), India *Corresponding author ABSTRACT Introduction Maize (Zea mays Linn.) is one of the important cereal crops next to wheat and rice in terms of total production in the world, ranks third in area and first in production in the world. In India, maize is cultivated on an area of about 8.3 million hectares with a production of 21 million tonnes with average yield of 2.5 tonnes per hectare (Anonymous, 2011). In the state of Jammu and Kashmir, it is cultivated over an area of about 0.32 million hectares with a production and productivity level of 0.55 million tonnes and 1.75 tonnes per hectare, respectively (Anonymous 2012). Productivity of maize in Kashmir valley under rainfed conditions is 11.5 quintals per hectare as against 23.0 quintals per hectare in sub-tropics of Jammu (Anonymous, 2013). It is considered as highest yielding cereal crop in the world and is of significant importance for countries like International Journal of Current Microbiology and Applied Sciences ISSN: 2319-7706 Volume 8 Number 06 (2019) Journal homepage: http://www.ijcmas.com Studies were conducted on the incidence of maize stem borer, Chilo partellus (Swinhoe) at DARS, Budgam, SKUAST-K during the Kharif season, 2015. The incidence of the insect was assessed in maize variety C-15 sown in April 2015. The lowest leaf infestation recorded during entire crop season was first observed in 18 th standard week (SW) (1 st week of May) with leaf infestation of 4.00 per cent while the highest infestation was recorded in 28 th SW (2 nd week of July) as 48.50 per cent. The lowest dead heart occurrence of 6.50 per cent was recorded in 20 th SW (3 rd week of May) and the highest was 37.00 per cent in 27 th SW (1 st week of July). Similarly the adult moth catch was found lowest in 17 th SW (4 th week of April) with 5.00 moths/trap and highest in 24 th SW (2 nd week of June) with 20.00 moths/trap. A positive and significant correlation was found between leaf infestation, dead heart and moth catch with maximum temperature, minimum temperature, maximum relative humidity, however, correlation was positive but non-significant with rainfall while a negative and non-significant correlation with sunshine and minimum relative humidity was observed. The adult moth catch was found to be non-significant but positively correlated with minimum relative humidity. Keywords Maize Stem Borer, Chilo partellus, Abiotic factors on maize Accepted: 07 May 2019 Available Online: 10 June 2019 Article Info