Question

What is Integrated Pest Management?

Answer 1

integrated Pest Management or IPM is a systematic plan to manage crops using different pest control tactics to keep pests below the levels where they can cause economic damage, with the least risk to the environment. Management does not mean eradicating pests. It means finding tactics that are effective and economical and that keep environmental damage to a minimum.

There is a key belief that the more variety a landscape has, the more sustainable it is. The organic farmer wants to create a system where the insects that are sometimes called “pests” are not eradiated but instead are kept at manageable levels by a complex system of checks and balance within a living and vibrant ecosystem. The eradication of pests is not only possible but also undesirable keeping in view the survival of predatory and parasitic interests. Thus, the use of biocontrol measures will greatly reduce our dependence on toxic chemicals and pesticides.

The four main groups of pests are weeds; invertebrates (insects, mites, ticks, spiders, etc); disease agents or pathogens (bacteria, fungi, viruses, nematodes, etc); and vertebrates (birds, reptiles, rodents).

Biocontrol agents and bioherbicides are the two major approaches under IPM.

Biocontrol is defined as controlling plant diseases and pests using biological methods. The biocontrol depends upon natural predation, e.g., ladybirds and Dragonflies are used to get rid of aphid and mosquitoes. Spores of Bacillus thuringiensis are used to control butterfly caterpillars. The fungus Trichoderma species are effective in the control of several plant pathogens.

Nucleopolyhedro viruses are pathogens that attack insects and other arthropods. Bioherbicides are the organisms and their extracts that destroy weeds without harming crop plants. They are of three types-predator herbivore (cochineal insect, a herbivore on Opuntia weed), smoother crops (Soyabeans, barley, etc.) and mycoherbicides (Phytophthora palmivora does not allow Milkweed vine to grow in citrus orchards).