author(s)
Madhu Sudan, Pervaiz Ahmed Pervaiz, Janak Singh Tara

abstract
The impact of weather factors on seasonal abundance and population dynamics of Anosia chrysippus, a serious pest of Calotropis procera in Jammu region was studied during August, 2010rnto July, 2012. The pest remained active throughout the year and attained two population peaks first in the month of October (3.04 larvae/twig) and second during April (4.94 larvae/twig). Correlation studies revealed a significantrnpositive correlation between increase in temperature and pest infestation (R=0.720; P≤0.01). All other weather factors viz. average relative humidity and average rainfall had a negative correlation with incidence of the pest. The regression model developed indicated that the variation in pest population is strongly influenced by maximum temperature (R²=0.519) and average relative humidity (R²=0.594). The results indicated that weather parameters played an important role in the population build-up of the pest.