Journal of Advances in Biology & Biotechnology

The study examined associations among weather parameters, major rice insect pests, and their natural enemies under field conditions at the College of Agriculture, Balaghat, Madhya Pradesh, India. Pest incidence and natural-enemy abundance were recorded at weekly intervals during the crop season, while corresponding meteorological data were obtained from the KVK observatory at Badgaon, Balaghat. Simple correlation coefficients were used to assess relationships between arthropod populations and meteorological variables. Relative humidity showed positive associations with the incidence of several pests, whereas maximum temperature and evaporation were generally negatively associated with pest abundance. Rainfall was positively associated with leaf folder and gundhi bug incidence, while sunshine hours showed pest-specific relationships. Associations between insect pests and natural enemies also varied among taxa. Significant positive correlations were observed for several pest–predator combinations involving spiders, odonates, mirids, coccinellids, carabids, staphylinids, cicindellids, and hymenopterans. These positive relationships are best interpreted as temporal co-occurrence or possible numerical responses of natural enemies to prey availability rather than direct evidence of pest suppression. Overall, the findings indicate that weather–pest and pest–natural-enemy relationships were species-specific and dependent on local field conditions. The identified associations may support local pest monitoring and weather-informed integrated pest management in rice, subject to validation across additional seasons and locations.