Sampling Technique for Estimating Leafhopper Population on Kenaf Plants

Abstract

Information for the study was collected between 1979-82 in Khon Kaen province in Northeast Thailand, the major kenaf growing area of Thailand. For the period of 12 - 96 days after planting the most suitable sampling technique was to count insects on the third leaf from top of the plant and sampling was made on 100 plant with the restriction that no two plants were adjacent and plants were as widely distributed throughout the field as possible. This sampling technique reduced the sampling time to less than one tenth of that for sampling methods formerly used, particularly when the crop was more than tow months of age. An estimate of leafhopper population on the kenaf plant could be obtained by multiplying the leafhopper count on the third leaf of 100 plants by a factor of 5.594.