Distribution of thrips in cotton canopy under subtropical conditions of Punjab, India

The experiment was conducted for two consecutive years to study distribution of thrips population within plant. Among the upper, middle and lower canopy, maximum thrips population was recorded on upper canopy (19.77 thrips/3 leaves) as compared to the middle (2.41 thrips/3 leaves) and lower (0.58 thrips/3 leaves) canopy. Thrips prefer to feed more on Bt cotton (4.64 thrips/3 leaves) than non-Bt cotton (4.27 thrips/3 leaves). The peak activity period of thrips was recorded during 26th and 27th standard meteorological week of year 2022 and 2023, respectively. Thrips showed significant positive correlation with rainfall and significant negative correlation with morning relative humidity.