Integrated pests & disease management is a broad -based approach that integrate the practices for economic control of pests & diseases.

The term was coined by Barlett in 1956

The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization defines IPM as “the careful consideration of all available pest control techniques and subsequent integration of appropriate measures that discourage the development of pest populations and keep pesticides and other interventions to levels that are economically justified and reduce or minimize risks to human health and the environment. IPM emphasizes the growth of a healthy crop with the least possible disruption to agro-ecosystems and encourages natural pest control mechanisms”. 

IPM extended the concept of integrated control to all classes of pests & diseases and was expanded to include all pest management strategies. There are many sections of management strategies in this we will discussed manual methods of pest control.

Principles of IP&DM

• Identifying pests & diseases, their hosts and beneficial organisms before taking action.
• Establish monitoring guidelines for each pest & disease species.
• Establish an action threshold for the pest & disease.
• Evaluate and implement control tactics.
• Monitor, evaluate and document the results.

Advantages of IP&DM

• More efficient and cheaper method
• IP&DM utilizes all possible strategies & measures to manage pests & disease incidence
• Promotes sound structures and healthy plants
• Promotes sustainable bio-based pest management alternatives.
• Reduces environmental risk associated with pest management by encouraging the adoption of more ecologically bbalanced control tactics
• Reduces the potential for air and ground water contamination
• Protects non-target species through reduced impact of pest management activities.
• Reduces the need for pesticides by using several pest management methods
• Reduces or eliminates issues related to pesticide residue

Integrated Pests & Disease management practices are as follows:

1. Manual destruction of pests & diseases

Removing the pest and disease infested plant parts through manual operations

This usually helps to avoid the pests & disease at the initial stages only.

1. Regular observation of the plants

Regular observation is critically important & essential & is a key element for IPM practise. Regular observation for all pests & diseases must be done regularly & frequently to avoid surprises.

Observation is broken into Inspection & Identification. Visual inspection of all plant parts for the presence of eggs, caterpillars, larvae or any bugs, any fungal spores etc. Look for the signs of infestation too.

This can be done by using small hand lens so that none of the pests or disease symptoms get escape

• Hand pick & destroy

Hand picking of pests & disease infested plant parts and their destruction is another method of pest & disease control. This method can prove effective in curtailing pestilence in vegetable & fruit crops. Insects which lay eggs in conspicuous and easily eliminated masses, e.g. caterpillars, hairy caterpillars, semi-loopers, tomato & brinjal shoot & fruit borer, Tuta absoluta, etc. can be easily eliminated. Early instar larvae of such insects often feed in congregations and later disperse on to the entire plant that stage it will be difficult to control

Hand picking demands alertness, patience and keen observation. The collected pests are destroyed by deep burying or simply crushing under the foot.

However, it is a labour intensive and time consuming process. Knowledge of egg laying behavior, location of eggs and larvae on infested crop is essential Hence, only a well-trained person would prove effective.

• Pruning of affected plant parts

If the initial practice of hand picking is not followed then, the symptoms spread in a short period throughout the entire plant or stem/twig without our notice. Hence the initial practices play a major role.

If the pests & diseases has spread to the entire leaf/twig/stem/branch/flowers/fruits just prune the affected plant parts as & when noticed. These infections will usually spread through air & water hence, Pruning should be done by using a sharp secateurs or shears to avoid the symptoms from its spread to others.

• Addition of beneficial fungi & bacteria to the soil

Immunity system is very important for living creatures for their survival & to fight against pests & diseases, there are many means of increasing the immunity power for plants. One among them is adding beneficial fungi & bacteria to the soil so that these components can increase the immune system in the plants.

KEYWORDS: Integrated pests & disease management, principles of pest and disease management, advantages IP&DM, integrated, manual destruction of pests and diseases, pruning of affected plants, hand pick, addition of beneficial fungi to the soil, how to control caterpillars.

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