Population dynamics of aphid and their natural enemies in mustard based on meteorological parameters using principal component analysis

Abstract

An experiment was conducted at the research farm of the Rajasthan Agricultural Research Institute, Durgapura, Jaipur, during Rabi, 2020–21 and 2021–22, to study the impact of meteorological parameters on the populations of the aphid, Lipaphis erysimi (Kalt) it’s associated natural enemies coccinellids, Coccinella septempunctata and syrphid flies, Xanthogramma scutellariae. The correlation coefficients with the pooled data, showed a substantial negative correlation of aphid population with temperature (r = -0.466 and -0.582*) as well as with average relative humidity (r =0.489*). C. septempunctata and X. scutellariae had positive significant correlations with L. erysimi (r = 0.965* and 0.988* respectively). The most significant variables for aphid populations, according to PC1 and PC2 (initial components of principal component analysis), are biotic factors and weather parameters.