Effects of abiotic factors on relationship between thrips and capsicum chlorosis virus disease in chilli crop

The present study was conducted to understand the consequence of meteorological factors on thrips population and occurrence of capsicum chlorosis virus (CaCV) disease. The peak population of thrips was observed on the 43^rd standard week (3^rd week of October) and the disease incidence (capsicum chlorosis virus disease) was 36.67% at the same time. Correlation study between thrips and capsicum chlorosis virus disease showed that the population of thrips had highly significant positive association (r = 0.97**) with capsicum chlorosis virus disease incidence. The correlation study between thrips population and meteorological parameters exhibited that the population of thrips had highly significant and positive (r = 0.65*) association (significant at p = 0.05) with maximum temperature, whereas, it showed highly significant negative association (r = -0.61**) with rainfall and only negative association with maximum and minimum relative humidity for both the years. The increase or decline of capsicum chlorosis virus disease was directly associated with vector inhabitants and vector population was established by environmental factors. However, it is concluded that thrips population and capsicum chlorosis virus disease incidence increased with increasing the temperature and decreased with the occurrence of rainfall.