
Pod borers Helicoverpa armigera and Spodoptera exigua are the major pests of chickpea. H. armigera alone causes an estimated loss of $2 billion, despite application of insecticides costing over $500 million annually (Sharma, 2005). Climate change will have a major impact on the distribution and abundance of insect pests (Sharma, 2014). • Therefore, we studied the effect of climatic factors on the incidence of pod borers in chickpea.