Population dynamics and dominance of leafhopper species on mango

Abstract

Studies on population dynamics and dominance of leafhopper species on `Alphonso' mango were conducted from May 2016 to April 2017 at mango orchard of Agriculture College, Shivamogga and Doddabbigere village of Davanagere district, Karataka, India. Maximum population of leafhoppers was recorded during second fortnight of February 2017 (33.54 leafhopper / inflorescence) in mango orchard of Agriculture College, Shivamogga followed by first fortnight of February 2017 (29.98 leafhopper/ inflorescence). Lowest number of leafhoppers was found during second fortnight of August 2016 (1.35 leafhopper / five sweeps in each direction). While at farmers orchard, the leafhopper population during first fortnight of February 2017 was highest (35.47/ inflorescence) followed by first fortnight of January 2017 (34.49/ inflorescence). Lowest leafhopper was found during first fortnight of September 2016 (2.05 leafhoppers/ five sweeps in each direction). Irrespective of seasons in both the locations the overall per cent dominance of mango leafhopper species was highest in I. nitidulus followed by I. nagpurensis and A. atkinsoni. Correlation analysis with various weather parameters in both the locations indicated that, maximum temperature and minimum temperature showed significant positive, whereas morning relative humidity had significant negative correlation with the incidence of hoppers.