Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Integrated management for controlling potential new disease and pest
epidemics are need of the hour. The management methods used for a
particular insect or disease problem will depend on the insect species or
pathogen involved the extent of the problem, and a variety of other factors
specific to the situation and local regulations. Nevertheless, the efficient
IPM practice will depend on a thorough knowledge of the pest life cycle,
environmental conditions, cultural practices, and minimizing host plant
abiotic stresses. A stressed plant grown under drought, saline or water-
logged situation is much more susceptible to pest problems.
The need for more expensive control practices of a pest would be re-
quired if the problem is permitted to spread. Total elimination of a pest
is not always feasible nor is it biologically desirable, if the process is en-
vironmentally damaging or leads to new, more resistant pests and elimi-
nates ben eficial fungi and insects. IPM uses as many management (con-
trol) methods as possible in a systematic program of suppressing pests
to a commercially acceptable level, which is a more ecologically sound
system.
InIPM better-targeted control with less chemical usage occurs because
of the integration of additional biological and cultural management mea-
sures. Cultural control begins with the preplant treatment of soil mixes to
suppress pathogens and pests. Other cultural control techniques include
sanitizing of soil or growing media, not allowing any drought stress,
providing good water drainage to reduce the potential of
Phytophthora
root rot and other damping-off organisms, reducing humidity to control
Botrytis
, minimizing the spread of pathogens by quickly disposing of dis-
eased plants from the field. Biological control measures include predator
insects and mites; beneficial nematodes and beneficial fungi and bacteria.
Bioinsecticides or biofungicides are preventative, rather than curative,
and must be applied or incorporated before disease onset to work properly.
Recently, neem (
Azadirachta indica
) products have been found highly ef-
fective among several botanicals used for pest control. Pheromone traps
are being used to manage fruit flies in mango. Likewise, the beneficial
fungus
Gliocladium virens
is an alternative to the chemical fungicide
Benomyl. As higher plants have evolved, so have beneficial below-ground
organisms interacting with the plant root system (the plant rhizosphere).
Examples of this include symbiotic nitrogenfixing bacteria, which are im-
portant for leguminous plants, and selected nematodes that control fungal
gnats. It is wellknown that beneficial mycorrhizal fungi (which naturally
