Seasonal abundance of Campoletis chlorideae Uchida (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae), A larval parasitoid of Helicoverpa armigera (Hubner) hardwick in chickpea

Abstract

Climate change is likely to affect the insect host and the activity and abundance of biological control agents. Therefore, the present studies were conducted to understand the seasonal abundance of larval parasitoid, Campoletis chlorideae on chickpea at Pantnagar during the cropping season 2010-11 and 2011-12 revealed that the larval parasitoid exhibited its marked first appearance in 3rd standard meteorological week (SMW) and attained peak population in 7th (85.80%) and 8th (87.65%) SMW, respectively. Statistical analysis between the weather parameters and the population of the larval parasitoid showed a significant negative correlation with maximum temperature (r= - 0.698* and r= - 0.705*) and minimum temperature (r= - 0.706* and r= - 0.790*) whereas significant positive correlation with maximum relative humidity (r= 0.800** and r = 0.824**) and minimum relative humidity (r= 0.636* and r= 0.254) during 2010-11 and 2011-12, respectively. The results indicated that changes in weather factors as a result of climate change would have considerable influence on survival and development of C.chlorideae.