author(s)
Uttam Kumar Behera, Bishnu Charan Jena and Chitta Ranjan Satapathy

abstract
A field experiment was carried out to study the effect of weather factors on seasonal incidence of major sucking insect pests on Bt and non-Bt hybrid (Bunny) cotton during Kharif, 2013 and 2014 at Regional Research and Technology Transfer Station farm at Bhawanipatna, Kalahandi, Odisha. The incidence of sucking pests was observed from 1^st week of August (32^nd SMW) and continued up to last week of December (52^nd SMW). The population of aphids (42.16 and 59.32/ 3 leaves) at 37^th and 36^th SMW; jassids (15.62 and 16.40/ 3 leaves) at 40^th and 41^st SMW; thrips (2.32 and 2.82/ 3 leaves) at 41^st SMW and 35^th SMW; whiteflies (5.72 and 5.40/ 3 leaves) at 41^st and 41^st SMW; and red cotton bug (7.78 and 7.96/ plant) at 48^th and 48^th SMW attended the peak in the year 2013 and 2014 respectively. No significant difference was observed with respect to the population of any of the sucking pests on Bt and non-Bt cotton. The population buildup of aphids, jassids and thrips were positively correlated with the mean minimum, mean maximum and mean average temperature, morning, evening and mean relative humidity and rainfall while whiteflies positively correlated with mean minimum, mean maximum and mean average temperature and rainfall. Red cotton bug showed negatively non-significant correlation with all the weather parameters.