Standard Meteorological Week Research Articles

Influence of Weather Parameters on the Seasonal Abundance of Legume Pod Borer Maruca vitrata (Crambidae: Lepidoptera) on Dolichos Bean (Lablab purpureus var. typicus)

Background: Legume pod borer, Maruca vitrata (Fabricius), infests the Dolichos bean throughout the cropping season. However, there is no information on the seasonal abundance of M. vitrata over different seasons on Dolichos bean, which is an essential tool for forecasting and developing integrated pest management strategies. Methods: The seasonal abundance of M. vitrata on Dolichos bean were studied during three consecutive cropping seasons of 2019 Summer, Kharif and Rabi. The larval population in flowers and pods and the number of larval webbings and weather parameters were recorded and subjected to correlation and multiple linear regression analysis. Result: The overall larval abundance was observed to be higher in flowers than in pods. The highest larval abundance in flowers and pods was 14.60 and 13.40 during the 48th and 50th standard meteorological week (SMW) of Rabi 2019 respectively, which corresponds to 8 to 10 weeks after sowing (WAS) in flowers and 10 to 12 WAS in the case of pods. The number of larval webbings was higher, with 18.76 during the 49th SMW of Rabi 2019. The maximum temperature had a significant negative correlation with the larval abundance in flowers (r= -0.570), pods (r= -0.523) and the number of active webbings (r= -0.477). At the same time, the regression coefficient shows that rainfall had a significant negative influence on the larval abundance in pods (B= -1.26).

​Effect of Planting Methods, Plastic Mulches, Training Systems, Soil Temperature and Soil Moisture on Tomato Yield

Background: Tomato is an important vegetable crop of Himachal Pradesh grown during summer and rainy seasons. Although the produce of the tomato fetches lucrative rates in the plains of Northern India, yet, the production is threatened by plethora of factors viz., diseases, insect-pests and weeds which ultimately affects yield and quality of fruits. The planting methods, mulches and training systems played enormous role in maintaining the soil temperature and moisture. Methods: The present investigation was carried out to study the performance of tomato (var. Solan Lalima) crop under open field conditions with two different planting methods, three types of mulch treatments and two types of training systems. This experiment was conducted at Vegetable Research Farm of DR YSP, UHF, Nauni, Solan during the period from March to September, 2017-18 and similarly for the period from March to September, 2018-19. Result: The maximum soil temperature was recorded under blackmulch followed by silver/black polythene mulch and control during the standard meteorological week (March to September, 2017-18 and 2019). Soil moisture was found to be maximum those treatments where silver or black mulch was used as compared to black mulch plot under the open field conditions. The maximum fruit yield (140.71 kg/plot) was obtained under the raised bed planting system, black mulch and two stem training system and the corresponding value being 136.16 kg/plot for raised bed planting method, silver/black mulch and two stem training system.

Harmonizing sowing dates with onset of rains to guarantee nutri-millets grain yield and quality under rain dependent farming

Nutri-millets offer copious micronutrients like vitamins, beta-carotene etc. In this present day, all the millets are amazingly superior and are therefore, the result for the malnutrition and obesity that affects a vast majority of the Indian population. They have numerous beneficial properties like drought resistant, good yielding in areas where water is limited and they possess good nutritive values. The prospective water scarcity in semi-arid regions disturbs both normal as well as managed environments, which limits the cultivation of crops, fodder, and other plants. The issues faced by the rain-dependent farming of these semi-arid regions are primarily the unpredictability of the monsoon. Probability analysis of rainfall events are believed to contribute in deciding sowing dates for the current season and for successful crop production in semi-arid environments. The present study was carried out in semi-arid condition to quantify the performance of nutri-millets in the rain dependent farming. The experiment was laid out under factorial randomized block design with 3 replications. The treatments comprises of crop factor viz., Sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench] (C1) and, little millet [Panicum sumatrense Roth ex Roem. & Schult] (C2) and sowing window factor viz., sowing based farmer’s practice (M1) i.e. on 31st standard meteorological week (SMW); Sowing at 33rd SMW based on 50% rainfall probability (M2); Sowing at 38th SMW based on 75% rainfall probability (M3), Sowing window as per the current weather forecast, for this season on 35th SMW (M4).It is evident from the study that Sowing sorghum at 38th standard meteorological week based on 75% rainfall probability recorded higher grain yield, rain water use efficiency with elevated iron and calcium content. This shows that different sowing dates have significant influence on grain yield and quality of nutri-millets.

Estimation of yield loss and relationship of weather parameters on incidence of bakanae disease in rice varieties under shallow low land ecologies of Eastern India

Aim: To assess yield loss in different rice varieties due to rice bakanae disease and to understand the role of weather parameters on disease incidence and losses. Methodology: Roving survey and surveillance was carried out for three consecutive years to assess the status of rice bakanae disease among twenty popular rice varieties growing in Eastern India. Field experiment was conducted for three successive years, i.e., 2016, 2017 and 2018 at Cuttack. Highly susceptible variety Pooja was selected for the experiment. Data on disease incidence was collected daily from 10 days after transplanting to harvesting stage and data were recorded at standard meteorological week. Correlation was performed to find the effect of different weather parameters on the incidence of bakanae disease on rice. Results: Disease being seed borne caused significant reduction in yield and quality. The maximum disease incidence was recorded in Pooja with 18.25, 28.50 and 40.25 per cent in three years. The same variety showed maximum yield loss of 35.26 per cent compared all other varieties. The data on relationship of bakanae disease incidence with weather parameters showed that the rainfall (-0.444) had significant negative correlation during 2018, while RH (0.525 and 0.606) had significant positive correlation during 2017 and 2018. Interpretation: This study gives some information for formulating breeding programs to develop resistant varieties and management measures for preventing Bakanae disease.

Symptoms of piper yellow mottle virus in black pepper as influenced by temperature and relative humidity

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s13337-021-00686-3.

Occurrence of Pyrausta panopealis on sweet basil Ocimum basilicum in India

Aim: The present study aimed at reporting the occurrence of pest, Pyrausta panopealis on sweet basil Ocimum basilicum. The biological parameters and population dynamics of the pest was studied on its newly reported host plant. Methodology: Description of P. panopealis was done using morphological and molecular approaches. Male and female genitalia of adults were dissected for morphological identification. DNA was isolated from insect sample (adult legs) and amplified using mtCOI primers (LCO 1490; HCO 2198). The larva of P. panopealis was reared on sweet basil under laboratory conditions for observing the growth parameters. Results: Male genitalia with distinct spoon-shaped clasper; female genitalia corpus bursae with appendix bursa. The sequenced DNA product was submitted to NCBI- GenBank (Accession No: Mk559412). The mean incubation period, larval period and pupal period of the pest was 3.19 days; 13.81 days; 5.40 and 6.27 days. The total life span of male and female insects ranged from 22 to 33 days and 24 to 35 days, respectively. The fecundity of adult varied from 91 to 131 (average 111.75 eggs). The peak population of pest (11.5 larvae/ plant) was recorded during 32nd standard meteorological week, during which all the observed plants were infested by larvae of P. panopealis. Interpretation: This is the first report of association between P. panopealis and sweet basil. The data on life cycle parameters, seasonal incidence and severity can be used for developing integrated pest management strategies to P. panopealis on sweet basil. Key words: Genitalia, Perilla leaf moth, Pyrausta panopealis, Seasonal incidence, Sweet basil

Neural Network-Based Prediction Model for Evaporation Using Weather Data

The information on evaporation has become important during the last decades because of monitoring and management of water resources and crop water requirement. The principal weather variables affecting evaporation are radiation, air temperature, humidity, rainfall and wind speed. Models or procedures have been developed to assess the evaporation from weather variables; it is mainly based on regression models (linear and nonlinear) in studying relationship of evaporation with weather variables (as such or in some transformed forms). Nowadays, artificial neural networks (ANNs) techniques have become very popular because of their wide range of applicability and the ease with which they can treat complex problems even if the data are vague and noisy. From modeling perception, neural networks are interesting because of their potential use in prediction. This approach has been illustrated for prediction of evaporation for four locations, viz. Maruteru (16.6269° N, 81.7389° E), Palampur (32.1109° N, 76.5363° E), Patancheru (17.5287° N, 78.2667° E) and Raipur (21.2514° N, 81.6296° E) based on fifteen years’ historical data. Consider the different lag period (4–6 weeks) on maximum and minimum temperature, relative humidity, basic sunshine hours and rainfall as the input variables and evaporation as the output variable. ANN models with back propagation as the learning algorithm with varying architecture of hidden layers (one and two) and varying neurons in hidden layers were developed. The developed models were validated for subsequent weeks (52 standard meteorological weeks) for different locations. On the basis of mean squared errors, ANN-based models with 2 layers each having 5 & 6 neurons in respective layers showed the most promising results for Maruteru, while in Palampur, Patancheru and Raipur, the 2L-5-6N, 2L-6-5N and 2L-5-5N architectures gave the best results.

Influence of Sowing Dates and Host Crops on Population Incidence of Whitefly, Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius) in Greengram and Blackgram

Considering sowing dates and host crop affects population incidence of whitefly in greengram and blackgram, the present study was undertaken with four different dates of sowing at 10-day interval: 24 July, 3 August, 13 August and 23 August 2019 with two varieties of greengram (IPM 205-7 & DGGV 2) and one variety of blackgram (IPU 94-1). Whitefly population varied significantly amongst the crops sown on different dates. Delay in sowing by 10 days (24 July–3 August), significantly increased the number of whiteflies from 3.68 to 4.52 adults per plant in IPM 205-7 (greengram), 7.38–14.52 adults per plant in DGGV-2 (greengram) and 28.46–31.7 adults per plant in IPU 94-1 (blackgram). Peak population was observed in the 36th Standard Meteorological Week (3–9 September) and started declining thereafter. Preference of whitefly towards varieties studied was in the order of IPU 94-1 (blackgram) > DGGV-2 (greengram) > IPM 205-7 (greengram).

Seasonal Incidence of Major Insect Pests of Apple in Mid Hills of Meghalaya

Seasonal incidence of major insect pests of apple in mid hills of Meghalaya was evaluated during 2018 at the Experimental farm of CPGSAS, Umiam, Meghalaya. A total of 43 insect species were observed. The major ones include- green apple aphid Aphis pomi De Geer, pale tussock moth Calliteara pudibunda L., tussock moth Euproctis guttata Collenette, giant looper Ascotis selenaria Denis and Schiffermuller and cocoa tussock moth Orgyia postica Walker. Also, 21 species were observed as minor pests, ten species as natural enemies, two species as pollinators and five species as occasional visitors. Results revealed that the aphid incidence is at its peak (34.75 aphids/ 10cm apical length of twig/shoot/ plant) on the 25th SMW (standard meteorological week) (3rd week of June 2018). Such a peak of pale tussock moth larval incidence (3.82 larva/ plant) was during 28th SMW (2nd week of July). Likewise, the tussock moth larval incidence (4.15 larvae/ plant) was its peak on the 35th SMW (last week of August). The giant looper was at its peak (3.46 larvae/ plant) in the 28th SMW (2nd week of July). The cocoa tussock moth incidence was at the maximum of 4.75 larvae/ plant on the 26th SMW (27th June). Correlation coefficients (r) indicated significant correlation between the incidence of green apple aphid with maximum temperature; and larval incidence of tussock moth and cocoa tussock moth exhibiting a significant correlation with minimum temperature. Regression analysis done herein will provide the impact of independent variables on the dependent variables.

Crop-weather calendars for cultivation of sunflower crop in Punjab

Crop-weather calendars contain integrated information on crop (from sowing to the maturity) and weather on weekly basis. They are useful in formulating the agro-advisory for the crop. So crop weather-calendars for sunflower for three different locations viz (Ludhiana, Ballowal Saunkhri and Amritsar) were developed by collecting and analyzing the historical meteorological and crop data. The weekly normals of different meteorological parameters were computed from daily weather data of the 3 locations Ludhiana (1970 -2017), Ballowal Saunkhri (1984-2017) and Amritsar (1970 -2017) over the past more than 30 years. The phenological calendars for the sunflower were computed using the actual field experiments. In accordance with recommended growth period of sunflower crop in the state, the sowing -emergence, vegetative, flowering, grain filling and physiological maturity period of sunflower were considered to extend from 1-5, 6-12, 13-15, 16-19 and 20-21 standard meteorological weeks (SMW), respectively. The optimum climatic normals for sunflower were worked out from actual meteorological data (temperature, relative humidity, rainfall, rainy day, etc.) during the high yield crop years over the past 15 years (2003-2017). The calendars for sunflower were formulated by uniting the actual weekly climatic normals for the location with the crop phenology calendar along with optimum climatic normals needed for high yield of the crop. These crop-weather-calendars developed for different growth stages can be utilized in the agro-advisory services for prediction of high crop yield as well as for timely management of the crop from adverse weather conditions.

Population Dynamics of Thrips Thrips Tabaci Lindeman in BT Cotton

This field experiment was carried out on Bt cotton in various blocks of district Bathinda, and the population dynamics of Thrips tabaci Lindeman in terms of seasonal abundance and in relation to weather factors were analysed. The results showed that thrips incidence started in 24th and 23rd standard meteorological weeks (SMW), and reached peak (9.42 and 9.83 thrips/ leaf) at 31st SMW in 2017 and 2018, respectively. The incidence (number/ leaf) varied from 0.00 to 18.36 and 0.00 to 18.33, respectively during 2017 and 2018, with the mean incidence being more in 2017 (2.45/ leaf) compared to 2018 (1.66/ leaf).

Comparison of different methyl eugenol based trap shapes for capturing fruit flies, Bactrocera Spp. in kinnow orchards

Oriental fruit fy, Bactrocera dorsalis(Hendel) and peach fruit fy, Bactrocera zonata(Saunders) (Diptera: Tephritidae) constitute a group of agricultural pests of global importance that attack a wide range of fruits causing considerable economic loss. The effective management of fruit flies (Bactrocera spp.) in Kinnow mandarin orchards was carried out during 2015–16 by evaluating different shapes of methyl eugenol based traps viz., triangular traps, Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) fruit fy traps, cylindrical traps and spherical traps. These were evaluated against fruit flies from 35th Standard Meteorological Week (SMW) to 50th SMW as both chemical and visual stimuli may play an important role in guiding insects to the site where essential resources can be found. The results revealed that triangular traps were found to capture signifcantly higher population, followed by PAU fruit fy traps, cylindrical traps and spherical traps. The mean percentage of fruit fy damage was also lowest (10.63) in triangular traps but signifcantly at par with other traps. Cost: beneft ratio was highest in PAU traps.

Influence of girdling on stimulation of flowering and yield in mango (CV. Alphonso) in hard lateritic rocky areas

The investigations, conducted during the year 2018-19 at Mango Research Sub-Centre, Rameshwar, Tal. Deogad, Dist. Sindhudurg (Maharashtra), located on hard lateritic rocky area, with five girdling time treatments viz., girdling in second fortnight of August (T1), girdling in first fortnight of September (T2), girdling in second fortnight of September (T3), girdling in first fortnight of October (T4) and control (no girdling) (T5), showed early initiation of flowering at 43rd standard meteorological week with maximum flowering intensity (63.75%) and highest hermaphrodite flower (9.40%) when girdling was done in first fortnight of September (T2). This treatment also recorded highest number of fruits (149.25 fruits tree-1), yield kg tree-1 (32.68) and t/ha-1 (3.27) than against lowest of 101.25, 22.31 and 2.23 of the respective parameters in the control.

Pre Harvest Forecasting of Kharif Rice Yield Using Weather Parameters for Strategic Decision Making in Agriculture

In the recent year, pre harvest crop yield forecasting has been a topic of interest for producers, policy makers, government and agricultural related organizations. Pre harvest crop forecasting is important for national food security. Construction of appropriate yield forecast promotes the output of scenario analyses of crop production at a farm level, which enables suitable tactical and strategic decision making by the farmer. Indeed, considerable benefits apply when seasonal forecasting of crop performance is applied across the whole value chain in crop production. Timely and accurate yield forecast is essential for crop production, marketing, storage and transportation decisions as well as for managing the risk associated with these activities. In present manuscript efforts were made for development of pre harvest forecast models by using different statistical approaches viz. multiple linear regression (MLR), discriminant function analysis and ordinal logistic regression. The study utilized the crop yield data and corresponding weekly weather data of last 30 years (1985-2014). The model development was carried out at 35th and 36th SMW (Standard Meteorological Week) for getting forecast well in advance of actual harvesting of the field crop. The study revealed that method of discriminant function analysis gave best pre harvest forecast as compare to remaining developed models. It was observed high value of Adj. R2= 0.94, low value of RMSE= 164.24 and MAPE= 5.30. The model can be used in different crop for reliable and dependable forecast and these forecasts have significant value in agricultural planning and policy making.

Seasonal Fluctuations and Management of Sucking Insect Pests on Bitter Gourd (Momordica charantia L.)

Background: Bitter gourd, an important tropical and sub-tropical vegetable which occupies a predominant position in Indian vegetables. The aphids and leafhoppers are more serious agricultural insect pests and aphids indirectly transmit plant virus diseases like, Cucumber Mosaic Virus (CMV) in cucurbit crops. Our study aimed to noticed seasonal fluctuations and bio-inputs using management of sucking pests in bitter gourd.Methods: Field experiments were conducted during 2017-19 in a farmer’s field at Ellamanam village, Tiruchirappalli district, Tamil Nadu in insect pest population was monitored at weekly intervals from ten randomly selected plants in three plots. In field efficacy studies conducted Randomised Block Design with eight treatments and three replications. Result: Our results showed in the maximum aphid and leafhopper populations were recorded in September 2018 during 39th SMW (Standard Meteorological Week). In Rabi, the aphids and leaf hopper population were maximum in 9th and 10th SMW in February and March. The population of aphids and leafhopper were positively correlated with maximum temperature, minimum temperature, wind speed and wind direction. Rainfall and relative humidity were negatively associated to aphids and leafhopper infestation. In Kharif and Rabi, high reduction of aphid and leafhopper pest population were noticed in chlorantraniliprole 18.5 SC and spinosad 45 SC compared to control. Among the bio-inputs agniastram recorded higher reduction of pest population followed by karpurakaraisal, NSKE, fish acid and ten leaf extract.

Incidence of leafhoppers in rice in relation to meteorological parameters

The present investigation was carried out at College of Agriculture, V. C. Farm, Mandya, University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore, during Kharif 2019. Occurrence of leafhoppers of rice was monitored by using yellow sticky trap on rice variety Jaya. The investigation revealed that, hoppers activity was first recorded during 36th standard meteorological week (SMW) on yellow sticky traps. Among the leafhopper complex observed during crop period only four species were abundant viz., Nephottetix virescens, N. nigropictus, C. spectra and Maiestas dorsalis. The peak incidence of Nephottetix virescens was observed during 45th SMW (25.00 hoppers/trap). The more number of N. nigropictus was recorded from 44th to 48th SMW (15.30 to 13.00 hoppers /trap). The highest number of trap catches was noticed at 45th SMW (19.8 hoppers/trap). N. virescens and N. nigropictus showed significant and positive association with sunshine hours and maximum temperature. Whereas, minimum temperature and morning relative humidity had found positive and non-significant association. Afternoon relative humidity, rainfall and number of rainy days were found negative association on leafhopper build up and found non-significant.

Population dynamics of citrus psylla, Diaphorina citri Kuwayama in relation to abiotic factor

The experiment on population dynamics of Citrus psylla, Diaphorina citri Kuwayama in relation to abiotic factor was conducted round the year during 2017-18 at ASPEE College of Horticulture and Forestry, Navsari Agricultural University, Navsari. Two peaks of citrus psylla in a year were observed. Highest psyllid population (10.23 nymphs and adults/twig/plant) were observed during 34th standard meteorological week (SMW) in a month of August while, it remained lowest (0.20 nymphs and adults/twig/plant) during 52nd SMW during winter season in a month of January. Second peak was observed during 16th SMW (8.75 nymphs and adults/twig/plant) in a month of May. Population of D. citri was highly significant and positively correlated with minimum (‘r’= 0.728**) and average temperature (‘r’= 0.675**), morning (‘r’= 0.509**), evening (‘r’= 0.620**) and average relative humidity (‘r’= 0.639**), rainfall (‘r’=0.362**) and wind velocity (‘r’= 0.449**).

Seasonal incidence of major insect pests of rice (Oryza sativa L.) and its correlation with weather parameters

The present investigation was carried out to study the seasonal incidence of major insect pests of rice (Oryza sativa L.) at the Agricultural Research Farm, Institute of Agricultural Sciences, BHU, Varanasi. The studies revealed that the pest activity commenced from 31st Standard meteorological week (SMW) and continued to 49th SMW. The leaf folder reaches a peak level at 49th standard week with 17.6 larva/10 hills. The dead heart noticed to reaches the peak level of infestation during the 42nd standard week with 6.23 per cent of dead. The rice white ear reaches the peak level of infestation during 49thstandard week with 10.93%. The rice brown plant hopper reaches the peak level during the 41st standard week with 19.33 insects per 10 hills. The correlation of yellow stem borer for dead heart shows significant positive correlation with the relative humidity and non-significant negative correlation with highest temperature, significant negative correlation with minimum temperature, average temperature, rainfall. The correlation of% white ears shows non-significant negative correlation with rainfall, significant negative correlation for maximum temperature, minimum temperature, average temperature, and relative humidity. The correlation of rice leaf folder shows non-significant negative correlation with rainfall, significant positive correlation with relative humidity, non-significant positive correlation for highest temperature, lowest temperature and temperature average. The correlation of rice brown plant hopper shows non-significant negative correlation with rainfall, highest temperature, lowest temperature and temperature average.

Modeling for anthracnose development in mango in relation to weather parameters

Mango anthracnose severity on leaves was recorded at 14 day intervals throughout the year 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017 and 2018 on mango cultivar Dashaheri. Logistic model was best for the year 2013, 2014, 2015, 2018 and pooled data of these years had lower mean square error (MSE) 37.67, 91.29, 100.84, 65.80 and 72.32 along with high coefficient of determination (R(Dodd et al. 1991)) 0.753, 0.532, 0.534, 0.656 and 0.606, respectively. Maximum anthracnose development i.e. periodical disease progression (6.9%) was highest from 31st to 33th Standard Meteorological Weeks (SMW) because of cumulative effect of minimum temperature (27 °C) and morning relative humidity (≥ 90%) along with the rainfall (56 mm). Mango anthracnose severity was positively and significantly correlated with the minimum temperature (0.62) followed by rainfall (0.46) on all year pooled data basis, whereas the highest correlation 0.65 was observed for the years 2014 and 2015. The regression model based on pooled data has performed better an alternative regression model of each individual year with the highest adjusted R2 value i.e. 0.747, explaining the effects of minimum temperature, morning relative humidity and rainfall on the anthracnose severity.

Relationship of severity pruning and weather variables on quality fruit production of ber (Ziziphus mauritiana L. cv. Sanaur-2)

Pruning had a vital role on the quality of fruit production in ber fruit crop under lower Shiwaliks of Punjab. The severity of pruning intensity significantly influenced the tree vegetative growth parameters and flowering behaviour of ber cv. Sanaur-2 viz. number of emerged shoots per branch, shoot length and girth of primary shoot. A significant higher percentage of fruit set, fruit retention, higher percentage of ‘A’ grade fruits and other fruit quality parameters viz., fruit weight, TSS, acidity, vitamin C, total sugars was recorded significantly higher in pruning treatment by removal 50 per cent vegetative growth over other treatments. Powdery mildew incidence steadily increased from standard meteorological weeks (SMW) 36 - 39 to 40 - 43 and then decreased under different pruning treatments. The severity of pruning reduces the incidence of powdery mildew. The meteorological knowledge on various weather variables at 3 - 4 weeks to actual incidence also can be effectively used to check the spread and severity of the disease.