Abiotic determinants of sucking insect pests abundance in Bt cotton

Results revealed that leafhopper activity peaked during the mid-August to early September and again from October to November periods. Thrips were most prevalent from mid-August to September, while aphids reached their highest populations in late July to early August and December. Whitefly populations surged from late October to December. Thrips and aphid distributions were highly variable throughout the seasons. Leafhopper and thrips populations positively correlated with minimum temperature and morning and evening relative humidity. In contrast, aphid and whitefly populations exhibited negative correlations with rainfall, minimum temperature, morning, and evening relative humidity. Multiple regression analysis revealed that weather factors accounted for 41.7, 33.2, 20.8 and 52.3% of the variation in leafhopper, thrips, aphid and whitefly populations, respectively.