Journal of Scientific Research and Reports

Chickpea cultivation is constrained by various insect pests that affect crop growth and productivity. The seasonal abundance of these pests and their associated natural enemies varies with agro-climatic conditions. However, location-specific information on insect pest complexes, natural-enemy populations and their relationships with weather parameters remains limited for Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh. A field investigation was conducted at the Instructional Farm of Barrister Thakur Chhedilal College of Agriculture and Research Station, Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh, during the rabi season of 2022–2023 to document the insect pest complex of chickpea and associated natural enemies and to examine their seasonal abundance in relation to weather variables. Chickpea was raised under unprotected conditions in a 10 m × 10 m plot with 30 cm × 10 cm spacing. Ten plants were randomly selected, and observations were recorded weekly from crop emergence to harvest. Four major insect pests were recorded: chickpea aphid, Aphis craccivora (Koch); tobacco caterpillar, Spodoptera litura (Fabricius); semilooper, Autographa nigrisigna; and gram pod borer, Helicoverpa armigera (Hübner). Two important natural enemies, the ladybird beetle, Coccinella septempunctata, and spiders of Thomisus spp. were also observed. A. craccivora reached a maximum population of 18.6 aphids/plant during the sixth standard meteorological week (SMW); S. litura reached 3.0 larvae/plant during the fourth SMW; A. nigrisigna reached 1.0 larva/plant during the seventh SMW; and H. armigera reached 3.1 larvae/plant during the second SMW. Among natural enemies, C. septempunctata and Thomisus spp. reached maximum populations of 3.30 and 2.80 individuals/plant during the third and fourth SMW, respectively. Aphid abundance was significantly and positively correlated with sunshine hours (r = 0.578), tobacco caterpillar with evening relative humidity (r = 0.603), and semilooper with maximum temperature (r = 0.744) and sunshine hours (r = 0.594). Spider abundance was significantly and positively associated with evening relative humidity (r = 0.750), whereas no significant weather association was detected for C. septempunctata. The observations provide a field-based description of the pest and beneficial arthropod complex occurring on chickpea at Bilaspur and establish seasonal windows for monitoring.