Relative abundance and effect of weather parameters on the prevalence of major insect pests complex of tomato in the eastern region of Uttar Pradesh

The results revealed that 12 species of insect pests belonging to 11 families were prevalent in the crop ecosystem. Five species viz., tomato fruit borer, whitefly, leafminer, aphid and thrips were found as major pests and the remaining seven were minor pests. The first presence of tomato fruit borer was observed at 25 DAT (51^st SMW) and reached its peak in the 10^th SMW, whereas whitefly first appeared at 49^th SMW and then increased steadily to peak at 7^th SMW. The occurrence of leafminer showed its first appearance at 20 DAT (50^th SMW) followed by an increase in population. Aphids were first noticed in the 48^th SMW and reached to peak in 7^th SMW. Thrips manifested their first occurrence by 26 DAT (51^st SMW) and reached to their peak in the 10^th SMW, followed by a gradual decrease in population. In most cases, minimum, maximum and average temperature, sunshine hours, and evaporation showed a negative non-significant association. In contrast, evening RH had a significant positive correlation with most of the pest populations. On the other hand, rainfall, morning RH, and average RH showed a positive non-significant correlation.