Pesticides are chemical agents utilized for the prevention and control of a wide spectrum of pests, including insects, rodents, fungi, weeds, and other deleterious organisms. The Green Revolution, which commenced in the 1960s and gained global momentum until the late 1980s, saw an extensive deployment of synthetic pesticides aimed at augmenting agricultural productivity. Although these chemical agents provide significant benefits in terms of crop yields and disease suppression, their utilization engenders considerable risks to both environmental health and public safety. The phenomenon of escalating resistance among insect populations to synthetic pesticides, coupled with rising concerns regarding environmental sustainability, has catalysed a resurgence of interest in botanical insecticides as viable alternatives for pest management. This shift is primarily attributable to the markedly lower ecological footprint of botanical agents, which are derived from plant materials and typically exhibit reduced toxicity towards non-target species, including humans and beneficial organisms, while still delivering effective pest control. Botanical insecticides, extracted from various plant sources, encompass a diverse range of bioactive compounds that can demonstrate insecticidal, repellent, and antifeedant properties. This chapter elucidates the integration of botanical insecticides within integrated pest management (IPM) paradigms, with a particular focus on their application in organic farming and sustainable agricultural practices. Furthermore, it evaluates the efficacy of multiple botanical extracts and essential oils, examining their interactions with beneficial fauna and overall implications for ecosystem health. Consequently, the application of botanical insecticides represents a promising avenue for both research and practical implementation within the framework of sustainable agriculture.
Rice, maize and wheat are considered as most important crops in our food basket. Various types of insect-pests infest these crops. All are not economically important as major pests of cereals. Paddy stem borer (Scirpophaga incertulas), leaf roller (Cnaphalacrosis medinalis), spiny beetle (Dicladispa armigera), gall midge (Orseolia oryzae), leaf hopper (Nephotettix spp.), plant hopper (Nilaparvata lugens) and ear head bug (Leptocorisa acuta) in rice; shoot fly (Atherigona soccata), stem borer (Chilo partellus), aphid (Ropalosiphum maidis) and fall army worm (Spodoptera frugiperda) in maize and termite (Odontotermes obesus) in wheat have been selected here as major insect problems in cereals. In this chapter, biology, damage and integrated management of above cited major insects have been highlighted. In most cases, crop wise chemical insecticides are recommended here as per strict guidelines of central insecticide board, Govt. of India. A catalogue of vital hexapod nuisances in case of paddy, maize and wheat has also been mentioned.
Biorationals, derived from natural sources, represent a sustainable and eco-friendly alternative to conventional chemical pesticides in insect pest management. They exert their effects by modifying insect behavior, disrupting growth, or deterring feeding, rather than causing direct toxicity. Among them, semio chemicals including attractants, repellents, and antifeedants play a crucial role in Integrated Pest Management (IPM). Attractants such as food lures, oviposition cues, and poison baits exploit insect sensory systems for monitoring and control. Repellents, both botanical and synthetic, protect crops and animals by discouraging insect settlement, feeding, or oviposition through tactile, olfactory, and gustatory mechanisms. Antifeedants, primarily derived from plants like neem, act as feeding inhibitors, reducing growth, fecundity, and survival of pests while sparing beneficial organisms. These approaches offer advantages such as species specificity, compatibility with biological control, and reduced ecological risks. However, limitations like environmental dependency, short persistence, and target specificity necessitate their integration with other IPM strategies. Overall, attractants, repellents, and antifeedants provide valuable, low-risk tools for sustainable pest management and hold promise for minimizing reliance on hazardous chemical insecticides.
The multi-omics approach, encompassing genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, and metabolomics, has revolutionized insect research by enabling a comprehensive view of the molecular interactions that drive insect adaptation, evolution, and ecological roles. Insect species, as the most diverse group of organisms, offer significant potential for understanding evolutionary processes, and multi-omics allows researchers to dissect these processes at multiple molecular levels. Through the integration of bioinformatics tools, complex datasets from different omics platforms can be aligned and interpreted to reveal patterns and networks within insect biology. These tools are essential for managing large volumes of biological data and for visualizing interactions across genes, proteins, and metabolites. In agricultural and environmental contexts, multi-omics enables a detailed exploration of plant-insect interactions, revealing signaling pathways and molecular dialogues that impact pest control and crop resistance. In medical entomology, the study of insect vectors is enhanced, helping researchers understand pathogen transmission and develop vector control strategies. Moreover, multi-omics allows for genome-wide analyses, identification of insect resistance genes, and the development of insect-targeted interventions. This integrated, data-driven approach thus offers unprecedented insights into insect biology, promising advancements in pest management, evolutionary study, biodiversity conservation, and the control of insect-borne diseases.
