Studies on Pest Complex and Seasonal Incidence of Shoot Fly, Atherigona Soccata (Rondani) on Maize in Western U.P.

An investigation to study the pest complex and seasonal incidence of shoot fly, Atherigona soccata (Rondani) in maize was carried out for two consecutive seasons i.e. 2013 and 2014. During the experimentation, eleven insect species were found attacking on different growth stage of maize crop, out of these stem borer, Chilo partellus (Swinhoe) and shoot fly, A. soccata (Rondani) were recorded as major pests, two insect Rhopalosiphum maidis and Pyrilla perpusilla was recorded as stray pests while other seven insects were appeared as minor insects to this region. The peak number of egg laid by shoot fly 2.27 and 2.37 egg/plant were recorded at end week of March (13th Standard Week) during the years, 2013 and 2014, respectively. The peak dead heart caused by shoot fly 26.18 and 26.40 per cent was recorded at first week of April (14th Standard Week) during the both years of experimentation i.e. 2013 and 2014, respectively. In case of shoot fly incidence among the weather factors, only morning and evening relative humidity showed positive correlation while other had negative correlation.