Influence of Weather Factors on the Activity of Rice Leaf Folder, Cnaphalocrocis medinalis (Guenee)

Studies on the rice leaf folder population dynamics revealed that the moth numbers were higher in the month of October, exhibiting the peak activity in the first week, followed by September. The correlation studies between light trap and net sweep collection with weather parameters on population build up showed that maximum, minimum temperatures and R.H. at morning were highly significant. Maximum and minimum temperatures had negative impact on population build up. However, the R.H. at morning had a positive impact. The correlation between net sweep and light trap collection was very high (0.866), showing that either of them was enough to monitor the leaf folder population under field conditions.