Pest Control in Agriculture

10 Key excerpts on "Pest Control in Agriculture"

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  eBook - ePub

  Organic Farming

  Global Perspectives and Methods

  • Sarath Chandran, Unni M.R., Sabu Thomas, Sarath Chandran, Unni M.R., Sabu Thomas, Unni M.R(Authors)
  • 2018(Publication Date)
  • Woodhead Publishing

    (Publisher)

  Chapter 3

  Pest Control in Organic Farming

  Cristina A. Costa, Raquel P.F. Guiné, Daniela V.T.A. Costa, Helena E. Correia and Anabela Nave,    CI&DETS Research Centre and Agrarian School, Polytechnic Institute of Viseu, Viseu, Portugal

  Abstract

  Organic farming is an environmentally friendly farming system that produces food based on the ecological balance of ecosystems, preventing soil fertility decline or pest problems. It is a proactive alternate approach to intensive agriculture, minimizing its adverse effects and contributing to maintaining soil quality and enhancing biodiversity. Pests represent a threat to crops, causing important damage and economic losses, and therefore they must be controlled. This is especially relevant in organic farming, where the environment and human health should be protected and thus the methods available for pest management are limited. When intervention against pests is necessary, farmers can either use preventive actions or direct control methods, always based on a weighted decision-making process. Regarding the options for pest management, there are often different possibilities, which may vary in efficacy, resource-intensiveness, knowledge and technical skills, and risk. For this reason, risk assessment is essential for efficient use of the available resources and crop protection strategies.

  This chapter aims to cover different strategies of pest and disease control, from preventive methods to direct intervention methods of different natures.

  Keywords

  Biological control; biotechnical control; biopesticides; cultural control; economic threshold; decision making; risk estimate

  3.1 Introduction

  Pests and diseases cause important losses and are a major concern for farmers, regardless of the production system adopted. Pests and diseases are the main competitors with humans for agricultural products, particularly when it comes from crops grown under high productivity conditions (Oerke and Dehne, 2004 ; Oliveira et al., 2014 ). The damage caused by these crop enemies constitutes a major factor in reducing the productivity of many crops, either in the field (preharvest) or later during storage (post-harvest). An average of 35% of potential crop yield is lost to preharvest pests worldwide and post-harvest losses (transport, preprocessing, storage, processing, packaging, marketing, and plate waste) may achieve another 35% (Oerke, 2006 ; Molden, 2007 ; Popp et al., 2012 ), although these estimates present large fluctuations due to a number of factors related to environmental conditions, the plant species being cultivated, the agricultural practices, farmer socioeconomic conditions, and the level of technology used (Oerke and Dehne, 2004 ; Oliveira et al., 2014

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  Protecting crops through plant diversity

  • Eric Darrouzet, Bruno Corbara, Alain Carbonneau, Jean-Louis Escudier(Authors)
  • 2024(Publication Date)
  • Éditions Quae

    (Publisher)

  PART 1 A few definitions This part presents the objects and concepts studied in the CAS. First, the concept of pests and their impact on crops. Second, the natural regulation of pests, with a paradigmatic shift away from chemical control strategies. 8 Finally, the different ways of diversifying farmland vegetation; these differ according to the type of vegetation in question (culti- vated or semi-natural), the temporal dimension of the diversification (crop season only or multi-annual) and the spatial scale of the roll-out (field, farm, landscape). 8. Used here to refer to pesticide use. 14 1. Pest, crop protection and natural regulation ● Pest: from injuries to economic losses Pests are living organisms whose actions on cultivated plants cause physiological or mechanical injuries. Such injuries may be characterised by an alteration in the growth or vigour of the plant, its morphology or that of its organs (lesions, changes in colour, deformations, necrosis, galls, etc.), or even its chemical composition (nutrient content, presence of toxins, etc.). The injuries may result in quantitative or qualitative crop losses 9 (damages) and ultimately in economic losses. Various organisms can harm cultivated plants: phytophagous arthropods (insects, acarids, etc.), weeds (crop volunteers and spontaneous vegetation) or parasitic plants, patho- genic microorganisms (fungi, bacteria, viruses, phytoplasmas, etc.) that cause plant dis- eases, gastropods, nematodes, birds, mammals (rodents, moles, etc.). Some pathogens are transmitted to plants by carrier organisms (usually insects, but also acarids, nem- atodes, mammals, etc.). Although it does not always harm the plant, the vector is gen- erally targeted by crop protection methods and is therefore viewed as a pest.

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  Plant Pests and their Control

  • Peter G. Fenemore(Author)
  • 2013(Publication Date)
  • Butterworth-Heinemann

    (Publisher)

  The use of species or varities of plants that can grow and produce despite the presence of the pest. In the narrow sense involves the use of predators and parasites (mostly other insects) to control pest species. In the broader sense also includes disease organisms (pathogens). Use of the latter is sometimes referred to as microbial control. Principally involves the use of chemicals which are toxic to insects (insecticides) but also includes the use of chemicals which modify insect behaviour, (eg attrac-tants and repellents). Involves restrictions on the international movement of plant and animal material to minimise further spread of pests (and of diseases). Includes killing or trapping pests by mechanical means or the use of barriers to prevent pests from gaining access to plants, stored produce or other materials. Involves modification of some physical feature of the environment to render it unsuitable to a pest (eg the lowering of temperature of stored grain), or the utilisa-tion of some physical property as an attractant (eg light traps for night flying insects). The blending together of two or more of the foregoing procedures into an overall harmonious system of control. Applies particularly to the integration of chemical and biological control (for detailed discussion see Chapter 12). Note: In addition to the above there are other specialised pest control procedures (such as the sterile male technique) that do not fit any of the described categories. Because of their limited application, they are not listed in the table and are dealt with only briefly in the text. (a) Crop rotation Crop rotation involves sequential planting of botanically unrelated crop plants in normally a three to five year cycle. The practice was developed historically for the purpose of maintaining soil fertility and soil structure, and benefits in suppressing pests have been incidental to a large extent. Traditional rotations of crops

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  Sustainable Crop Protection Strategies in 2 Vols

  • Sardana, H R(Authors)
  • 2021(Publication Date)
  • Daya Publishing House

    (Publisher)

  Figure 4.7 shows the flow of information from each component to final view over web. This task has been initiated by the Centre to accomplish the task of getting automated pest mapping for major crops in India and this is being tried on pilot regions on the country using GPS enabled PDAs and GIS. This ebook is exclusively for this university only. Cannot be resold/distributed. Figure 4.7 Pest Management in Crop Production through Spatial Technologies A GIS can manage different data types occupying the same geographic This ebook is exclusively for this university only. Cannot be resold/distributed. space. For example, a biological control agent and its prey may be distributed in different abundances across a variety of plant types in an experimental plot. Although predator, prey, and plants occupy the same geographic region, they can be mapped as distinct and separate features. Once patterns and correlations are elucidated, management practices can be modified to optimize yield and production costs, and minimize environmental impacts caused by excessive applications of fertilizers and pesticides. Site-specific applications of fertilizers, pesticides and other applications can be implemented by dividing a field into smaller management zones that are more homogeneous in properties of interest than the field as a whole (Zhang et al., 2002). Importance of Pest Management in Crop Production Pest life cycle, stages, damage nature and parts of plant affected, ETL for specific pest, predator, prey, Soil moisture, temperature, rainfall, humidity, leaf area index, wind speed, sun shine hours, crop stage, variety, utilization of minerals/nutrients etc. Efficient and Economic assessment: Proper appreciation of the relationship of Pest-Soil-Crops-Climate is essential.

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  The Ecological World View

  • Charles Krebs(Author)
  • 2008(Publication Date)
  • CSIRO PUBLISHING

    (Publisher)

  control damage and is not used in the engineering sense of regulating the pest population around some equilibrium density. One of the obvious ways of controlling damage is to reduce the average abundance of the pest species, but there are other ways of reducing damage by pests without affecting abundance (such as using insect repellents).

  Economic Pests and Ecological Pests

  In the field of pest control, a pest population is defined as being controlled when it is not causing excessive economic damage, and as uncontrolled when it is. The boundary between these two states will depend on the particular pest. An insect that destroys 4 to 5% of an apple crop may be insignificant biologically, but may destroy the grower’s margin of profit. Conversely, forest insect pests may defoliate whole areas of forest without bankrupting the lumbering industry. The concept of an economic threshold must be applied to all questions of pest control. This includes the cost of the damage caused by the pest, cost of control measures, profit to be gained from the crop, and interactions with other pests and their associated cost. Pest control is an ecological problem as well as a social and economic problem. In this chapter we will discuss mainly the ecological aspects of pest control, but it is important to realize that the economic and social dimensions are equally important when it comes to developing pest-control strategies.

  Pest control in most agricultural systems is achieved by the use of toxic chemicals, or pesticides . An estimated 2.5 billion kilograms (nearly 5 billion pounds) of toxic chemicals are being used annually throughout the world to control plant and animal pests. Despite the use of these pesticides, about 48% of the world’s crops are lost to pests before and after harvesting. In spite of increasing pesticide use in the last 60 years, crop losses have gone up or remained constant rather than gone down as one would expect (Figure 19.1 ). Pesticides are only a short-term solution to the problem of pest control for several reasons. Firstly, toxic chemicals have strong effects on many species other than pests. Rachel Carson was the first naturalist to point out to the public at large the ecological consequences of toxic chemicals. The effects of DDT on bird populations (Essay 19.1 ), which Rachel Carson highlighted in Silent Spring , is a good example of how pesticides can degrade environmental quality. Secondly, many pest species are becoming genetically resistant to toxic chemicals that formerly killed them. Insects that attack cotton have evolved resistance to so many pesticides that it is no longer possible to grow cotton in parts of Central America, Mexico and southern Texas. Thirdly, the use of toxic chemicals in some situations can actually produce a pest problem where none previously existed. This is perhaps the most surprising effect of toxic chemicals. Rice paddies sprayed with insecticides show more pest individuals after spraying than paddies left unsprayed (Figure 19.2

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  Crop Pests and Stored Grain Pests and their Management

  • Nekesah T. Wafullah(Author)
  • 2020(Publication Date)
  • Delve Publishing

    (Publisher)

  These hidden costs were difficult to enumerate in economic terms, exacerbating the challenge for the newly emerging regulatory agencies in industrialized countries that were tasked with weighing the obvious advantages of pesticide use against their challenging risks. 6.2 POLICY IN PEST MANAGEMENT Currently, growing populations and changes in food consumption patterns are presenting countries with growing challenges to intensify agricultural production to meet the growing demand for food, feed, and fiber, and to meet international trade standards of quality. Pesticides play an important part in many crop productions. At the same time, countries face growing national and international concerns regarding pesticide use and associated risks. They are under pressure to change pest management practices to more sustainable approaches with reduced reliance on pesticides and to strengthen regulatory control over pesticide distribution and use to reduce the risk of harm to humans and the environment. Together all these factors are driving forces behind pest and pesticide management policies. Concerns related to specific sectors include: • Agriculture: Achieving food security is a prime concern in agriculture in many countries. Sustainable production intensification and post-harvest loss prevention are the main elements. Sustainable responses to outbreaks of endemic and transboundary pests and diseases that affect agricultural production and food safety are needed in this regard. With that Key Concerns in Pest Management 211 global trade in agricultural commodities and goods, it is also important to ensure that agricultural product transportation does not lead to the spread of pests and diseases. While pesticides play an important role in plant protection, overuse and other improper use have in many cases actually worsened pest problems through detrimental effects on natural control mechanisms and the creation of resistance to pesticides.

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  Plant Pests and Their Control

  • P. G. Fenemore(Author)
  • 2016(Publication Date)
  • Butterworth-Heinemann

    (Publisher)

  The use of species or varieties of plants that can grow and produce despite the presence of the pest. In the narrow sense involves the use of predators and parasites (mostly other insects) to control pest species. In the broader sense also includes disease organisms (pathogens). Use of the latter is sometimes referred to as microbial control. Principally involves the use of chemicals which are toxic to insects (insecticides) but also includes the use of chemicals which modify insect behaviour, (eg attractants and repellents). Involves restrictions on the international movement of plant and animal material to minimise further spread of pests (and of diseases). Includes killing or trapping pests by mechanical means or the use of barriers to prevent pests from gaining access to plants, stored produce or other materials. Involves modification of some physical feature of the environment to render it unsuitable to a pest (eg the lowering of temperature of stored grain), or the utilisation of some physical property as an attractant (eg light traps for night flying insects). The blending together of two or more of the foregoing procedures into an overall harmonious system of control. Applies particularly to the integration of chemical and biological control (for detailed discussion see Chapter 12). Note: In addition to the above there are other specialised pest control procedures (such as the sterile male technique) that do not fit any of the described categories. Because of their limited application, they are not listed in the table and are dealt with only briefly in the text. (a) Crop rotation Crop rotation involves sequential planting of botanically unrelated crop plants in normally a three to five year cycle. The practice was developed historically for the purpose of maintaining soil fertility and soil structure, and benefits in suppressing pests have been incidental to a large extent. Traditional rotations of crops have evolved suited to

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  Agricultural Pest Management

  • Peters, I(Authors)
  • 2018(Publication Date)
  • Agri Horti Press

    (Publisher)

  This ebook is exclusively for this university only. Cannot be resold/distributed. Agricultural Pest Management 2 Biological control methods such as the introduction of parasites or predators to eradicate a particular pest have a growing importance in Integrated Pest Management. Chemical control of pests, while often necessary, should be undertaken judiciously using the appropriate pesticide and means of application to minimise any risk to human, animal or plant life. Pest Management Practices The participating growers listed their top three weed, insect, and disease problems and indicated how they managed these problems. Weed management was the most predictable hurdle that these growers faced. Growers employed three main strategies for weed control in vegetable production: hand weeding as needed (60 per cent), mechanical cultivation on an entire field (57 per cent), and crop rotations (46 per cent). Hand weeding was more common on smaller farms, while mechanical cultivation replaced this labour-intensive activity on larger farms. Growers were more likely to use cultural practices in vegetables than in berries to reduce weed infestations and avoid future problems. Berries are a perennial crop, limiting cultural management options like crop rotations and adjusted planting dates for weed control. Most growers employed physical management practices in berries. For berries, hand weeding was the number one strategy (44 per cent), followed by using mulch (33 per cent) and mechanical field cultivation (22 per cent). Only 17 per cent of the growers applied herbicides regularly to vegetables while 12 per cent did so in berries. Twenty-three percent of the growers used herbicides only as needed in vegetables, and 12 per cent did so in berries. Diverse vegetable plantings limit herbicide use, as few herbicides are appropriate for application on multiple crops and carryover restrictions limit which crops can be planted 12 to 24 months after application.

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  Ecology

  From Individuals to Ecosystems

  • Michael Begon, Colin R. Townsend, John L. Harper(Authors)
  • 2009(Publication Date)
  • Wiley-Blackwell

    (Publisher)

  We have seen previously how the details of spatial structuring of populations can affect their dynamics (see Chapters 6 and 14). With this in mind, Section 15.4 presents examples of the application of a metapopulation perspective to pest control and harvest management. We discussed in Chapter 7 how predicted global climate change is expected to affect species’ distribution patterns. Such conclusions were based on the mapping of species’ fundamental niches onto new global patterns of temperature and rainfall. We will not dwell on this phenomenon in the current chapter, but it should be noted that global change will also impact on popula- tion parameters, such as birth and death rates and the timing of breeding (e.g. Walther et al., 2002; Corn, 2003), with implications for the population dynamics of pest and harvested (and endan- gered) species. 15.2 Management of pests A pest species is one that humans con- sider undesirable. This definition covers a multitude of sins: mosquitoes are pests because they carry diseases or because their bites itch; Allium spp. are pests because when harvested with wheat these weeds make bread taste of onions; rats and mice are pests because they feast on stored food; mustellids are pests in New Zealand because they are unwanted invaders that prey upon native birds and insects; garden weeds are pests for esthetic reasons. People want rid of them all. 15.2.1 Economic injury level and economic thresholds Economics and sustainability are intimately tied together. Market forces ensure that uneconomic practices are not sustainable. One might imagine that the aim of pest control is always total eradication of the pest, but this is not the general rule. Rather, the aim is to reduce the pest population to a level at which it does not pay to achieve yet more control (the economic injury level or EIL).

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  Biotechnological Approaches for Pest Management and Ecological Sustainability

  • Hari C Sharma(Author)
  • 2008(Publication Date)
  • CRC Press

    (Publisher)

  8 Biotechnological Approaches for Pest Management and Ecological Sustainability limited to certain niches and insect species. There is a need to improve culturing tech-niques, formulations, quality, and the application technology. Cultural Control The need for ecologically sound, effective, and economic methods of pest control has prompted renewed interest in cultural methods of pest control. The merit of many of the traditional farm practices has been confirmed by learning why farmers do what they do. But some practices still remain to be thoroughly investigated and understood. A number of cultural practices, such as selection of healthy seeds, synchronized and timely sowing, optimum spacing, removal of crop residues, optimum fertilizer application, and regulation of irrigation, help in minimizing the pest incidence. A number of crop husbandry practices that help reduce pest damage can be quite effective under subsistence farming conditions and these involve no additional costs to the farmers, and do not disturb natural enemies of the insect pests and the environment. Date of Sowing and Planting Density Sowing time considerably influences the extent of insect damage. Normally, farmers plant with the onset of rains. Synchronous and timely or early sowing of cultivars with similar maturity over large areas reduces population build up of insect pests and the damage they cause. In Tamil Nadu, India, there is an old adage among the farmers, “inform your neigh-bor before you plant sorghum lest his crop be destroyed by shoot fly [ Atherigona soccata (Rondani)] and head bugs [ Calocoris angustatus (Lethiery)].” Early and uniform sowing of sorghum over large areas has resulted in reducing the damage by shoot fly and sorghum midge [ Stenodiplosis sorghicola (Coqillett)] in Maharashtra, India. Early planting of pigeon-pea results in reduced damage by H.

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