Effect of Different Growing Environments on Population Dynamics of Sucking Pests in Relation to Various Spectral Indices in Cotton

Present study was designed to determine the effect of various growing environments on sucking pest population dynamics in cotton and to work out their relation with spectral indices. Crop spectral reflectance in four IRS bands was measured with ground truth radiometer during 1000–1200 h in all the treatment combinations. Incidence of sucking pest in cotton was found out to be highly influenced by growing environments. The leafhopper and whitefly population was highest in 15 May sown cotton crop and was lowest in 15 April sown crop. Cultivar HS-6 was highly affected by both the sucking pest than the other cultivar H-1226. The spectral indices (SR, NDVI and TVI) were highest in 15 April sown crop at all the phenophases and were lowest in 15 May sown crop. The cultivar H-1226 showed higher values of spectral indices as compared to HS-6. The relationship of pests’ population with various spectral indices was established. Multiple regression models based on spectral indices can be used for prediction of sucking pest population more than 69 and 74 % accuracy in leafhopper and whitefly, respectively in cotton crop.