Vol. 12, Special Issue 11 (2023)

Author(s):
Rabi Saha, Shanowly Mondal Ghosh, Amit Gope, Rayanta Kumar Lala and Gautam Chakraborty

Abstract:
Maize (Zea mays L.) belonging to the family Poaceae is the third most important cereal crop after rice and wheat. Major limiting factors are maize stem borer, pink stem borer, shoot fly, armyworm, maize cob borer and corn aphid, which cause economic yield losses during different seasons all over the country (Siddiqui and Marwaha, 1994). In addition to the above pests, currently Fall armyworm (FAW), Spodoptera frugiperda (J.E. Smith) causes a considerable damage to maize crop all over the world. The field experiment was conducted to see the Seasonal occurrence of major insect pests of maize with special reference to fall army worm at Goyeshpur, K.V.K farm, Nadia, West Bengal during Rabi 2020-21. The insect pests viz. Fall armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda) and corn aphid (Rhopalosiphum maidis) were recorded as a major insect pest on maize crop. The highest number of fall armyworm larvae (1/ plant) and corn aphid (2.61/plant) were seen during 10^th SMW and 14^th SMW respectively. During the study period natural enemies viz. spiders, coccinellids and rove beetles were also observed. The correlation study between fall armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda and weather parameters during Rabi, 2020-21 exhibited a significant positive correlation with minimum temperature (r =0.508*). In case of aphid, the correlation with weather parameters showed a significant positive correlation with maximum temperature (r =0.772*) and minimum temperature (r =0.770*) and the total rainfall (r =0.531*), while it showed a significant negative correlation with morning relative humidity (r =0.636*).