Seasonal incidence of major insect pests of bottle gourd in relation with weather parameters under mid altitude hills of Meghalaya

Observations of red pumpkin beetle were recorded from five randomly selected plants from each replication at weekly basis after emergence of seedlings whereas fruit flies infestation was recorded during harvesting at weekly interval. Results revealed that population of red pumpkin beetle ranged from 0.50 to 4.83 beetles/plant with peak population of 4.83 beetles/plant on 20^th SMW in 2019 and 4.50 beetles/plant on 31^st SMW in 2020. Fruit infestation reached its peak on 33^rd SMW with 77.78 and 71.43% fruit damage during 2019 and 2020, respectively. Temperature had positive influence whereas relative humidity and rainfall had negative influence on pest population. It was also observed that fruit infestation of bottle gourd was maximum during the month of August.