Influence of climate change on Helicoverpa armigera (Hubner) in pigeonpea

Annual monitoring of the population dynamics of Helicoverpa armigera in unprotected pigeonpea crop during kharif seasons of 2011 to 2014 for 4 years at the farmers field North Gujarat, India. Temperature, rainfall and host-plant species were analyzed with respect to population fluctuation of the insect pest. The observations revealed that, the average number of larval population per plant in the season (from 27th to 3rd standard weeks) was 0.97, 0.32, 0.30 and 0.38 larvae/plant during 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014 respectively. Population of Helicoverpa armigera had significant and negative correlation with maximum temperature (r= -0.524), rainfall (r= 0.079) and relative humidity (r= -0.827, r= -0.595 morning and evening, respectively)