Impact of climate variability on recent and future status of jassid infestation in groundnut at Kadiri, a hot arid region of A.P. State

Abstract

Groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) is an important oilseed crop grown in India over 4.56 mha with production and productivity of 6.77 mt and 1486 kg/ha, respectively with Andhra Pradesh accounting for 17.0% of area and 11.8% of production. Anantapur district of Andhra Pradesh situated in agro ecoregion of Deccan plateau and central highland hot ecoregion of India is the largest producer (0.11mt) in the State from an area of 0.89 mha (Anonymous, 2017). Groundnut crop suffers attack from variety of insect pests, pathogens and weeds that cause heavy yield and monetary losses (Dhaliwal et al., 2010). Among sap feeding insects, jassids (Empoasca kerri Singh-Pruthi) occur regularly on groundnut. Jassid infested plants show yellowing on leaf tips with typical V shaped mark resulting in ‘hopper burn’ under favourable weather conditions and cultural practices (Mer et al., 2016). Jassid infestation alone cause up to 22% yield loss in groundnut (Vyas 1984). Understanding the influence of weather fluctuations and climate variability on dynamics of E. kerri infestation aids in strategizing adaptive management practices in the climate change era.