With the advancement of agriculture, the large-scale resurgence of insect pest reaches to destructive levels despite of low initial density. Therefore, judicious cultural practices which includes killing the dormant stage of insect pest complexes by stubble burning, proper tillage and flooding before field preparation, maintaining proper spacing of seed or seedling, use of balanced fertilizer, synchronization of sowing time, selection of appropriate crop and variety are considered as one of the components for management of crop pests. Among the different crops the cultural practices are mostly applied in rice, wheat and sugarcane for controlling borer pest complexes in South East Asia. Habitat manipulation is now being added as new component of insect pest management of which maintaining structural and cultural diversity, providing overwintering site, orientation of windbreak designs and refuge, cultivation of trap plants, maintaining banker plant system, utilization of herbivore induced plant volatile, nectar food management, landscape for conservation of natural enemy and use of ecological engineering technique are predominant to manage insect pest problems of crop. The application of habitat manipulations are very common practices for management insect pests in rice, pulses, oilseed and fruit crops by most of the progressive growers in western countries.
Monitoring insect pests is the first step in making any pest management decisions for successful pest control. Traditional monitoring technologies like pheromone traps, light traps, sticky traps, burlese funnel traps, etc., have limitations viz., more labor and time requirements and were less accurate in getting real-time pest scenarios under field conditions. In this direction, advancement in science and technology has led to the development of innovative techniques like remote sensing, artificial intelligence, acoustic monitoring and molecular methods. These methods use real-time data or situations to generate the most accurate results that help in achieving precision pest management goals. Researchers are focusing on integrating traditional methods with artificial intelligence techniques to get better outcomes.
Global population growth increases the demand for food, but insect pests damage about 18% of crop production. The rise of pesticide-resistant insect populations has reduced the effectiveness of synthetic chemicals, prompting a reliance on Integrated Pest Management (IPM) programs. To address these challenges, safer, species-specific pest control methods are needed. RNA interference (RNAi) offers a promising solution by selectively suppressing genes crucial for pest growth, development, or reproduction. RNAi's sequence-specific approach can target pest insects without affecting non-target species, providing a low-risk alternative to traditional chemical pesticides. However, many insect species, including key lepidopteran and hemipteran pests, show limited responses to RNAi, highlighting biological barriers that currently constrain the effectiveness of RNAi in agricultural pest management.
Host plant resistance (HPR) is an inheritable trait that assists the plant to obstruct the growth of insect population or to recover from damage caused by populations that were not subdued to grow. There are three components of plant resistance, viz, antixenosis, antibiosis, and tolerance together called as genetic resistance. Significant progress has been made in different crop in identification and development of varieties with resistance to the major pests. HPR is an effective, economical, and environment friendly method of pest management, which further compatible with other management strategies. The most advantage of this technique is that farmers almost do not need any skill or expertise in its application and also applied without any investment of cash. HPR not only cause a major reduction in pesticide use and reduction in development of resistance against insecticides in target populations, but also lead to increased activity of natural enemies and reduction in pesticide residues in food and processed products. Along with the plant growth-promoting properties, beneficial microbes can increase plant health and stimulate resistance to insect by inducing systemic defence. In the present era of organic farming, induced resistance can be exploited for developing crop cultivars, and there by act as one of components of integrated pest management for sustainable crop production.
The use of pesticides and insecticides to suppress the insect pest leads to environmental problems along with the development of resistance in insects. As a result, more efficient and sustainable approaches have been gaining importance worldwide. One such approach is the incorporation of semio chemicals in Integrated pest management strategies. Semio chemical interaction are found to be more eco-friendly, efficient which involves inter as well as intraspecific interactions with the pests. Pheromones are the chemical substances that involves in intraspecific communication and allelochemicals are in interspecific communications. These semio chemicals are found to be useful with techniques like push-pull, mating disruption and mass trapping. This chapter explains the basic types of semio chemical interactions along with the strategies and some future directions in pest control.
Among the various natural enemies, predators and parasitoids play crucial roles in pest management. Predators, which are primarily naturally occurring organisms, help suppress pests in fruit orchards. These include predatory insects such as ladybird beetles, predatory bugs, earwigs, lacewings, mantids, ants, dragonflies, and damselflies, as well as other animals like rats, birds, and bats. Some predators can also be imported, mass produced, and released through classical bio-control methods for effective pest suppression. Parasitoids, mainly hymenopteran wasps, attack and kill pests through parasitism. These parasitoids can be released in fruit orchards after being mass-multiplied. Encouraging the presence of these natural control agents may be achieved by reducing the indiscriminate application of chemical toxicants. This chapter discusses important predators and parasitoids that can be utilized or managed to address pest problems in fruit crops.
"If agriculture goes wrong, nothing else will have a chance to go right," says M. S. Swaminathan. Meeting the needs of this generation while safeguarding the capability of future generations to cater for their own requirements is how the United Nations defines sustainability. This is the sole purpose of advancing science and technology. It’s to create a better and cleaner tomorrow for the upcoming generations. Agriculture is the backbone of a country. Pests pose a great challenge to all the crops that are grown around the world. We have for ages used chemical substances to curb pest infestation and have caused irreversible damage to our environment. It’s high time we focus on greener technologies for managing insect pests. It should not only be a sustainable method but also cost effective, that is of use to farmers and laymen.
The sustainable management of insect pests in vegetable crops is crucial for agricultural productivity and environmental health. Although the traditional chemical pesticides are efficient, in some cases exhibits greater risk to human beings, beneficial organisms as well as vegetable ecosystems. This has consequently led to the increased interest in alternative pest management strategies particularly the use of entomopathogens that are microorganisms which induce infections naturally among insect pest. Entomopathogens are beneficial microorganisms that are viable and pathogenic to insect pest. The entomopathogen species viz; fungi, bacteria, viruses and nematodes, infect a variety of insect pests and play an important role in vegetable ecosystem used in the strategy of insect pest management. Case studies on successful applications of entomopathogen-based pest management with a wide range of vegetable crops have also been included. These examples will emphasize the possibility of the use of entomopathogens in reducing chemical pesticides in agriculture, thereby pursuing the goal of sustainability. Entomopathogens are one of the most effective and safe biological agents for the management of vegetable crop insect pests. Further research and development of the appropriate entomopathogen based formulations will effectively integrate their potential into integrated pest management systems of vegetable agro-ecosystems. This chapter discusses the use of entomopathogens, including bacteria, fungi, viruses and nematodes in controlling insect pests on vegetable crops. It explains the different kinds of entomopathogens, mechanisms and their target specificity to pests.
Fruit flies belonging to the family Tephritidae of the order Diptera are one among the significant quarantine pests. Management strategies are well established for historically notable species like Ceratitis capitata Wied., Anastrepha ludens Loew, Anastrepha suspensa Loew, Bactrocera dorsalis Hendel, and others. Effective pest management begins with preventive approaches including quarantine measures to prevent the entry, spread and establishment, field sanitation by removing ripe fruits from the ground or trees, fruit bagging, and early harvesting. Curative techniques involve the use of insecticides either alone or in combination with other strategies. Biological control methods using predators, parasitoids, and pathogens serve as both preventive and curative approaches. Advanced methods like sterile insect technique, male annihilation technique, bait application technique, and thermal screening for damage detection are gaining popularity. Despite these numerous strategies, tephritid flies remain a major threat due to their polyphagous nature, high reproductive capacity, dispersal ability, and adaptability. Therefore, integrating reliable and efficient practices in a compatible manner is crucial for the effective management of fruit fly species.
Fruit flies are significant agricultural pests that attack on vegetable crops. Fruit flies eat and deposit their eggs on crops, causing significant harm. These pests are considered crucial key pests due to the devastation they create. Fruit flies are hard to control since their eggs are laid inside the fruit. Controlling them is extremely difficult due to their polyphagous behaviour, strong reproductive potential, and adaptability to many environments. Therefore, suitable action needs to be made to manage this pest in a sustainable manner. Since one approach will not suffice to manage this pest, a combination of approaches, including mechanical, cultural, behavioural, chemical, and biological control, as well as host plant resistance mechanisms and quarantine, can be employed. We talk about each of these approaches to suppress the pest population and to minimize the damage level to the lowest extent.
ISBN : 978-81-981855-2-5
