Incidence of Popillia lucida Newman on rice in Himachal Pradesh

Investigation on the abundance of Popillia lucida Newman on paddy was undertaken during wet season, 2011 at three locations in Kangra district of Himachal Pradesh, India. Rice crop under direct sown and transplanted conditions was observed at weekly intervals upto harvesting for recording the build up of chaffer beetle. The adults of chaffer beetle started appearing during first week of August with the panicle initiation and the maximum mean adult populations observed at three locations viz., Ansui, Amatrahar and Ladoh were 27.63, 15.00 and 19.13 adults 30 hills⁻¹, respectively. The pest activity was observed throughout the flowering period of the crop. Among the various abiotic factors, minimum temperature, relative humidity and rainfall showed positive correlation with adult population at all the three locations.