V. S. KIRAR, O. P. AMETA, R. SWAMINATHAN AND B. UPADHYAY

A study was conducted to investigate the major sap–sucking insect pests of cotton, which revealed that cotton jassids (Amrasca biguttula biguttula Ishida.), aphids (Aphis gossypii Glover), whitefly (Bemisia tabaci Genn.), red cotton bug (Dysdercus koenigii Fabricius), dusky cotton bug (Oxycarenus laetus Kirby) and thrips (Thrips tabaci Linnman) were the dominant. The peak infestation of thrips (33.8 thrips/plant) was noted during second week of August, while maximum jassid (21.87 jassids/plant) and whitefly (20.33 whiteflies/plant) were recorded during fourth week of August. Aphid was recorded (36.27 aphids/plant) during last week of August, 2012. The peak population levels for red cotton bug (15.33 red cotton bug /plant) and dusky cotton bug (14.27 dusky cotton bug/plant) were observed during last week of October and first week of November 2012, respectively. The population of jassid and whitefly showed significant positive correlation with mean RH whereas, the population of red cotton bug and dusky cotton bug showed significant negative correlation with mean RH and temperature, respectively.