Historical Perspective, Present Scenario And Future Srategies Of Cotton Pest Management

By - Shri. T.P.Rajendran,
Crop Protection Division
Central Instititute for Cotton Research, Nagpur

Integrated Pest Management (IPM) has become the watchword of today's cotton crop protection in our country as in the rest of the world. In the early part of 20th century, crop protection was based on the knowledge of pest biology and cultural practices of the crop, when potent chemical insecticides. This became the precursor for the present IPM systems. The catastrophic results of the over-reliance on chemical insecticides in field crops, fruit trees etc. moved advocates of biocontrol and a supplementary strategy of biocontrol was introduced to supplement the Pest management tactics in vogue. In India too, a similar phase came into being when in cotton farms, there was an impasse due to poor pest suppression even in cases of liberal pesticide use. Economic entomology became a sub-discipline for managing economically important pests of cotton and other crops.

HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES

The wide acceptance of moderation in aggressive interventions came up in the world due to the publication of Silent Spring in 1962. From a broad platform of Smith and Allen's (1953) Integrated Control to narrowed one of Stern et. al., (1959) and Smith's (1964, 1975) sensitisation to bringing back balance in nature utilising applied pest control with the utilisation of biocontrol and chemical control.

Indian cotton plant protection also did not swerve from this pattern of thought till the last one and half decades of this century. We are at the cross road of indecision in Cotton protection to identify the road to safety of the agro-ecosystem and the survival of the farmers who are compulsively tied up to cotton crop, being the saviour in their farmland in different agro-climatic zones of the country. Its implementation is virtually dependent on everybody involved in production and protection of cotton. Chemical insecticides dominated insect suppression in all crops in India from 1960s. For a while, all the insecticides seemed to control pests. But sooner, it was realised that the insecticides could not be a panacea for pest control. Then came the advent of need-based and supervisory control programmes in the late 1970s. Field scouting data on the prevailing pest and natural enemy populations in the crop decided the need of insecticide application. IPM began to be interdisciplinary with the introduction of various components such as pest-tolerant cultivars, modified crop husbandry practices, removal of alternate hosts and affected plant parts, utilisation of natural enemies, use of crop terminators and mechanical measures, etc.

A change in the pest species scenario was another historical perspective that found changes in the pest suppression approaches in the last four decades of the century in our country. The conventional pests were Spiny and Spotted bollworms as well as Pink bollworm in addition to the early season onslaught of jassids, aphids and thrips. But the dimension of pest incidence changed with changing cropping patterns and agro-climatic conditions such as the eruption in the population of whitefly and American bollworm. Other pests such as aphids, leaf miners, leaf rollers and even Red and Dusky cotton bugs became increasingly menacing towards the last few decades.

Seeking a reliable and resonant solution in mitigating the problems of protecting cotton crop from herbivory by the noxious pests, IPM was resorted to. However, the belief that modulations in the choice, concentrations and timing of spraying of various chemical insecticides could be the major means of IPM. Thus the chemical-based protection of this crop flourished for over two decades from the sixties. The Operational Research Project and many other R&D approaches brought about consistent debate on the search for alternatives to chemical insecticides in the wake of various perceptible adversities that came to the fore in cotton cropping. Biological options including bio-pesticides such as those of botanical origin and biological control agents were planned to be integrated in the package of practice for cotton pest management.

The changes in cropping systems, cultivation practices as well as the change in pest scenario have added newer dimensions to the lack of profitability of cotton growers in the country. The oft-resorted pest suppression was the use of xenobiotic chemical molecules to suppress insect pests in the crop.

Pest outbreak

1.During this decade, there have been many instances in our country where cotton crop failed in spite of adequate protection measures, as in the case of whitefly outbreak of 1984 in Andhra Pradesh and subsequently in the Punjab. Similarly there was early season outbreak of Leaf miner (Lyriagromyza sp.) in northern Karnataka and some parts of Tamilnadu and Andhra Pradesh. The analysis of the reasons for such failures lead to the conclusion that there have been alterations in the agro-ecosystem due to the breakage in food chains such as associations of pests as prey and their parasitoids and predators. These natural enemies were highly susceptible to insecticide, resulting in the withdrawal of natural restrictions on population growth of pests.

2. The natural control of the pests have weekend due to excessive damage in the agro-ecosystem.

3. The target and non-target insects developed resistance to the toxicants that were applied injudiciously.

In order to manage a healthy crop, we need to analyse the agro-ecosystem of cotton carefully. We need to understand clearly the life stages of pests and where these stages occur on cotton plants. It should be realised that each of the above insects has egg, larval, pupal and adult stages that occur in the crop. As farmers and cotton extension workers, we should know how to identify and observe them in the different growth stages of the crop. This pre-requisite provides us with the opportunity to decide about the gravity of pests situation at present and can which erupt in the future.

Pest management was al the time based on the application of chemical toxicants and had, in India also, begun with organochlorine compounds, cyclodienes, organophosphates, carbamates and subsequently to synthetic pyrethroid groups. Although Insect Growth Regulartors [IGRs] was introduced subsequently, these did not find a suitable positionin the chemical-based pest suppression. The march of various formulations of these chemical groups did not effectively reduce the pest pressure in the crop in spite of the quest for increased productivity of the fibre through the introduction of modern cotton cultivars including hybrids.

PRESENT SCENARIO

Several lessons that were learnt from the experiences of the seventies and eighties paved the way for the large scale implementation of IPM as a package in different cotton growing zones in accordance with the demand of the situation. The All India Co-ordinated Cotton Improvement Project [AICCIP] contributed much to the collation of recommendations for insect pest management in cotton. The various State agricultural Universities and agriculture departments also drew up recommendations and various plans for On-farm demonstrations. The role of private sector in regard to these efforts centred on the promotion of insecticide formulations of the respective business houses. Dubious role of this sector in vitiating the use of pesticides became prominent and there has been awakening at government and farmer levels in this regard. The rampant excesses in the injudicious and unscientific use of insecticides in cotton led to uneconomic crop cultivation and resultant severe crop loss and suicides of cotton growers, as recorded from Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra in the last few years.

Successive cyclic national episodes of H.armigera epizootic on cotton have proved that mitigation of this pest remains a complex and central issue in the overall cotton-based cropping system. Earlier, only cotton farmers were forced to take their own lives; now it is the turn of the pigeonpea farmers too as reports pour in from Bidar dist. of Karnataka (India Today, March 9, 1998). The enormity of the situation demands that we take a fresh, hard, closer look at the problem and attack it from all possible angles so as to avoid any further recurrence of such situations. The agility of polyphagous pests such as H.armigera derives from a suite of four physiological, behavioural and ecological attributes that enable them to survive in unstable habitats and in turn colonise and exploit agricultural system successively. The attributes that make them exploiters are genetic plasticity and polyphagy, high mobility, high fecundity and facultative diapause.

These characteristics emphasise the importance of movement in the dynamics of their population and consequent need for regional, holistic approach to research management, i.e., considering the weed and crop hosts and climatic features in conjunction with the control strategies. Jowar, maize, sunflower, castor, roses, and many species of uncultivated plants are generally not cared for in farms in order to reduce H.armigera population. Apart from cotton, pulse crops like pigeonpea and chickpea succumb to this pest severely. Prominent weed hosts whereon they proliferate are the ones like Lagascea mollis on which they survive for offseason multiplications.

Research on insecticide resistance management:

Insecticide resistance management became a passionate research area since the late 80s when failures in the pest management of cotton recurred continuously. World-wide investigations in this regard led to the identification of mechanisms of resistance build up and understanding it as genetic safety of target organisms for survival under acute selection pressure. A lot of pioneering and novel work were undertaken at CICR since early 1990s at CICR in order to monitor, quantify and study the process of resistance to insecticides by key pests of cotton. Withdrawal of such insecticide pressures was shown to bring down insecticide resistance built in the target pest species. The judicious management of insecticides could be strategies in this way to make insecticides still a potent weapon in cotton pest management in cotton cropping systems.

Components of IPM

Cultivars

There was a conscious effort to breed cultivars since the seventies incorporating resistance against jassids, that became a major early season pest, arresting the vigour and growth of cotton American upland cultivars prevailing at that time. Hirsuit type of plants were chosen with inbuilt tolerance to this pest. Subsequent observations that some of these were more prone to bollworm incidence did not affect their cultivation since packages for bollworm management in such crop was robustly designed. A favoured environment for the build up of early stage natural fauna in the cotton crop seemed to reduce efforts to contain bollworms subsequently, unlike in the reverse situation where there was absolute difficulty in keeping both the sets of pests in low population levels.

Chemical insecticides

The management of these pests using insecticides that cause kill of the life stages that are targeted on the cotton plant, disregarding the agro-ecology seemed to be a major set back that came to fore in the seventies and eighties. The toxic chemicals that are sprayed against the pestilent insects also kill the friendly non-target organisms that are naturally occurring. The intensive and injudicious pesticide sprayings enhance the detoxification capabilities of pest populations of such targeted toxic compounds faster and escape from the kill-effect. Thus the dual control (natural suppression as well as pesticide reduction) on the noxious pests in cotton crop is lost and pests are enabled to expand their numbers anomalous. Hence, the benefits of insecticide have to be harnessed judiciously, taking into consideration the natural fauna and flora that act against the pests. It is thus natural to decide the management of these insect pests of cotton with a judicious blend of chemical and biological mean.

The systemic insecticides such as methyl demeton @ 2.0 l/ha, dimethoate @ 2.0 l/ha, phosphamidon @ 1.0 l/ha etc. could alleviate the problems due to jassids and aphids. Specific insecticides such as profenofos and monocrotophos could reduce whitefly population. Synthetic pyrethroid insecticides [third generation pesticides] and IGR compounds [fourth generation pesticides] were employed for the fight against ever-increasing number of insect pests in cotton system from time to time. However, the early use of synthetic pyrethroid compounds like fenvalerate, cypermethrin and decamethrin was found to predispose the cotton plants for their rapid multiplication of secondary pests such as aphids and whitefly. The IGRs also did not give any tangible solutions to such a predicament of the losing fight with insect pests in cotton cultivation in the late seventies and early eighties.

It is noteworthy that the early use of insecticides on cotton could reduce the natural tendency of biotic stresses of the pests. In the fragile agro-ecosystem of annual crops, where the build up of balance between natural fauna and pest species in the crop takes a definite period of time. So it is desirable to delay the first application of insecticides on cotton by at least 50-60 days after germination. This helps to establish the local bioagents of various pests to flourish on the cotton crop.

Bollworms are generally managed using insecticides such as endosulfan @ 2.0 l/ha, quinalphos @ 2.0 l/ha, phosalone @ 2.0 l/ha or chlorpyriphos @ 2.0l/ha. Repeated applications of the same insecticides should be avoided. The application of pyrethroid insecticides, unless very much warranted should be strictly avoided, for fear of development of pest resistance to insecticides and also due to the destruction of many natural enemies.

Pheromones, pheromone formulations and traps

Pheromones are sex hormones emitted to the outside of insect body to attract and call members of the opposite sex. These molecules have been isolated and synthesised for being used in monitoring, mass-trapping or mating disruption, as the case may be, of various key pests in agriculture. Pheromone trap data could be utilised as only an advisory service tool since the experts could only decipher the meaning of trap catch that has to be correlated with the ensuing larval damage. So it should be away from the farmers’ domain of IPM practice and farmers could be helped by the advisory service of the locality in this regard. In cotton, much is known about the chemistry and synthetic process of pheromones of the bollworms. When pheromones are used as a tool to monitor pest populations, it results in need-based use of pesticides (or any other pest management practice), therefore, have also the potential to make an economic impact in terms of saving of costs of insecticides applied in the cotton crop.

Pheromones of several insects of cotton belonging to the orders Lepidoptera and Coleoptera have been identified as well as synthesised. The composition of these pheromones of various cotton pests is given in Table 11.1 Utilisation of pheromones in cotton pest management in India is mainly for monitoring of American, spotted and spiny and pink bollworms as well as mating disruption and mass-trapping for pink bollworm.

Table:11.1 Trap height and male moth catch for predictability of damage to fruiting bodies of cotton

Bollworm	Trap height from crop canopy	Trap catch/night/trap	Predictability of larval damage
American bollworm	1 meter	2 moths/night/trap for 3 consecutive nights	Expect egg laying in the next 5-8 days
Pink bollworm	0.03 meter	8-10 moths/trap/night for four consecutive nights	Expect egg laying in the next 10-15 days
Spotted bollworm	0.03 meter	1 moth/night/trap for 3 consecutive nights	Expect egg laying in the next 3-5 days
Spiny bollworm	0.03 meter	1 moth/night/trap for 3 consecutive nights	Expect egg laying in the next 3-5 days

Botanical pesticides

Pesticides of botanical origin has been in vogue from very early days. There has been tremendous progress in the development of various commercial formulations in addition to utilisation of oils of neem(Azadiracta indica), Karanj (Pongamia glabra)etc.

Application of various botanical insecticides that are prepared from neem and that are easily available in the market should be better preferred over more potent insecticides as they are eco-friendly, encouraging more natural enemy development in the crop environment.

Cultural control

Cultural control of pests could be brought about by [1] de-topping the cotton crop after 80 days of growth, [2] deep summer ploughing and [3] cultivation of trap plants like marigold/Chrysanthemum in and around the cotton fields on which American bollworm lay more number of eggs could avoid major pest outbreaks in cotton. Keeping the cotton fields and its premises clean weeded could also help in the avoidance of pest build up. Preventive strategies involve cultivation practices and crop husbandry such as selection of suitable cultivar, time of sowing, spacing as well as management of nutrient and crop residue.

Natural enemies/biocontrol, massproduction, efficacy and limitations

Natural suppression of insect pests form a major activity in crop fields and the key mortality factors of pests have been analysed in various Life table studies of important cotton pests to suggest that there is more than 65-80 per cent mortality of the cotton pests due to the action of various natural enemies. By facilitating their flourished activity in cotton crop, one could achieve excellent pest suppression in this crop.

Naturally occurring predators, that catch and eat the pest life stages are given in the following Table.

Natural enemies in cotton ecosystem of central India

Name of predator	Target pests	Seasons of action
		1990	1991	1992
Orius sp.	Aphids, immature stages of jassids, whitefly	July-September	Late June-October	June-September
Geocoris sp.	Aphids, immature stages	July-September	July-October	Late August-November
Canthecona furscellata	Early instars of H.armigera,	August-November	August-December	August-November
Chrysoperla Sp. Apertochrysa sp.	Aphids, jassids, eggs and young larvae of bollworms	June-September	June-October	July-November
Menochilus sp., Scymnus sp., Coccinella sp.	Aphids, jassids, eggs and young larvae of bollworms	June-September	July-September	August-December

The role of bird depredation on bollworms is also highly significant. Keeping bird perches @ 4-6 per acre facilitated large-scale exploitation of birds as predators. Similarly spiders of the family Thomicidae also increased in the low-insecticide applied plots. The overall impression of these experiences is that the initial bollworm build up in the crop could be offset using biocontrol-based IPM. This helped in establishment of the earliest set bolls, which yielded good quality cotton.

Utilisation of natural enemies in IPM

Certain natural enemies that are amenable to mass-production are: the egg parasitoid, Trichogramma, a broad spectrum predator, Chrysoperla, a larval parasitoid, Habrobracon, pathogens such as Helicoverpa Nuclear Polyhedrosis Virus (H-NPV). Other pathogens such as Verticillium lecanii against aphids, Metarhizium anisopleae against jassids, Beauveria bassiana against whitefly, Nomuraea rileyi and Entomophthora sp. against bollworms have considerable promise in efficient cotton IPM. The advantages of utilising biocontrol agents in cotton IPM are given in Table below.

ADVANTAGES OF UTILISING BIOCONTROL AGENTS IN COTTON IPM

Sr No.	BIOAGENT	dosage/ha	Target pest(s)	specific advantages
1.	TRICHOGRAMMA CHILONIS	ONE LAKH [5 cards]	bollworms [three species]	i. kills bollworms' eggs ii. The damaging bollworm population is drastically reduced. iii. It cuts the number of broods [cycles in the treated fields. iv. Lower cost of protection in comparison to insecticides to get similar results.
2.	CHRYSOPERLA [CHRYSOPA] CARNEA	1000-2000	jassids, aphids,	i.highly voracious predator bollworm eggs & young ii.insatiable hunger larvae iii.good hunting capacity iv. broad spectrum predator. v. long larval life that is highly predaceous. vi.can be released in the crop at egg stage. vii.multiplies very fast in cotton crop viii.reinfests the cotton fields once the effect of insecticides wanes out. x.The adults are free living and produce the progeny in cotton itself and are not affected much due to insecticides.
3.	BRACON HEBATOR	1250	CATERPILLARS	i.Kills bollworms and semiloopers.
4.	NUCLEAR POLYHEDROSIS VIRUS	250 larval equivalents [LE] 1LE=200 CRORES	H.armigera	i. very specific for H.armigera management ii. can be mixed with any insecticdes for application iii. combines with any of the above biocontrol agents PIBs or OBs

General Advantages :

1. The integration of biological control agents would reduce the over-dependence on insecticides for the suppression of cotton pests. The time is most opportune for the use of bioagents when many insecticides have become ineffective due to the development of resistance by these insect pests.

2. The utilisation of bioagents for the pest suppression would provide a congenial environment to make other natural enemies to flourish more and reduce the pest load in the crop.

3. The low cost mass-production techniques can be easily adopted by farming families in villages. It forms a part of the farming activity and could generate employment to the rural youths that can become enterprising entrepreneurs.It has now been proved from the experiences of managing rainfed cotton crop in Maharashtra that bioagent-based protection could be successful, provided they are easily made available to farmers and are utilised under the guidance of an experienced specialist. The cost of protection could also be drastically reduced in this process, provided the bioagents are locally produced. The utilisation of bioagents has been seen to reduce the cost of protection by at least 65 per cent and increase the efficiency of pest suppression.

IPM STRATEGIES

Scouting and field monitoring form the cornerstone of IPM. Monitoring of the pest incidence and build up in large areas using insect pheromone traps, light traps predictive plant and pest models as well as by inspecting field after field provides clear indications for the action plan. Field scouting should make the farmer informed of the relative abundance of pests and their natural enemies.

Implementation of the pest management programme needs the development of capabilities of extension workers and farmers to recognise different life stages of the pests and natural enemies. Full colour illustrations of these on plasticised cards should be given to all farmers with description in local languages. Imaginatively prepared pamphlets and handbooks in local language form the mainstay for propagating IPM philosophy in cotton-based cropping system. The inputs, including pesticides should be sold through a single window such as a cotton-marketing organisation. Insufficient attention is also given to provide spares of spraying appliances at the village level.

If the ambition of planners and policy makers is to achieve higher production without affecting the agricultural environment, it is hoped that bioagent-based IPM has a lot of answers to the current problems in crop protection of our country. Meticulous application of its principles with location-based priorities would ease the pressure of relying only on insecticides for insect pest management, especially in a crop like cotton.

Epizootic of Nomuraea rileyi on H.armigera were recorded on cotton and chickpea crops during 1997-98 and the fungus, which is pathogenic to H.armigera, holds high potential in checking the pest. This insect pathogen could be promoted on a large scale as it is useful against wide variety of lepidopterous pests in the concerned cropping system.

While it is too much to expect these bioagents to perform individually to our full satisfaction, under the vagaries of various climatic and other factors, we have intelligently integrated these in cotton protection. CICR, out of fits of various interactive activities with farmers since 1991, realised that the success of this tactic is possible only through farmers' participation along with gearing up of the State Advisory Services [SAS] of agriculture departments. A major imaginative step by CICR has been to organise many training programmes for farmers and extension officials of the State Agricultural Departments of the country.

Better strategies for efficient cotton pest management

It is estimated that majority of pests are naturally suppressed to the tune of sixty per cent. If only, we provide ample opportunities for these factors to play a logical role, cotton crop could be saved from ravages, caused by pests. It also holds true for most of the other field crops. Many predators like spiders, birds, mites, beetles and bugs play a key role in the pest reduction. Bioagents like parasites, predators and pathogens of pests do not leave any after-effect as they are target- specific. Hence, as the pest numbers increase, the natural enemy build up also happens. Out of the more than 100 such naturally occurring enemies, scientists have identified a few that are amenable to large scale production using specific methods. In the hope of restoring the damaged ecology of cotton crop, the insecticides are withdrawn and the biological options such as natural enemies and botanical pesticides are made to play vital role in reducing pest numbers.

Newer chemicals for better IRM strategies

Newer toxic molecules that have better neurosensitivity in insects and have more than one mode of action such as targeting resistant insect population to weaken their resistance mechanism are in the pipeline of research. These compounds are expected to bring in better kill of advance larval instars too in order to contain the bollworm population significantly. Another significant research is on toxins from microbials such as fungi. Considerable emphsis on ecofriendly pesticide molecules has given a lot of thrust to segregate such compounds so as to avoid non-target adversities. Newer types of IGRs also are seemingly promising to target later instar caterpillars that are otherwise difficult to be killed with current toxicant molecules. Developmental anomalies could created due to such IGRs in key pests of cotton. Specific synthetic pyrethoids focussed on sucking pests are also looked upon as promising, although their after effects are under keen scruitiny.

Newer bioagents

The search for potential bioagents that have better longevity and shelflife are looked for. In addition to various candidate microbial organisms, there is a good scope for the utilisation of hemipteran [bugs] predators for they have participatory predation by all life stages of the insect. Predation is a better inter-insect association that needs to be reposed with strong faith as there is immediate and visible effect of the reduction of numbers. Selection of such predators belonging to Hemiptera [bugs] would be ideal since all the life stages of this would be predatory on the target pest insect. The level of hyperparasitism on their life stages should be low. The designer-based cropping systems or cultivation of certain flora that favour the build up of these predators should also be looked at.

Automated mass production

Considerable effort to develop automated processes with least space requirement and low cost investment should be the aim for future R&D efforts for mass-production techniques of newer bioagents. It is to be borne in mind that there needs simple protocols that could be taken up within the infrastructure of our villages.

Role of Biotechnology

A significant role is assigned for a futuristic advancements in harvesting the benefits offered by useful alien genes that favour immunity to tolerance in cotton plants against a wide variety biotic agents that threat good crop production. Search for newer genes from various sources has been an ongoing and fascinating research mission. It is worthwhile to invest in such R&D efforts to gain more sustainable and lasting solutions for the problems posed by noxious pests and disease. The potential in this regard is enormous and could revolutionise the scenario of plant protection in the coming millenium. The multidisciplinary efforts to change the genetic constitution of Gossypium spp. To favour better insect resistance is a longing that could pay dividends, given the current research options on molecular manipulations are intensively pursued. The possibility of intensive commercialisation of such products could enhance quick deliverance of the products such as genetically modified cotton seeds, albeit the fact the ordinary Indian cotton grower may become susceptible to exploitation.

Community plant protection (co-operatives)

Yet another major approach for improving the efficiency of protection of cotton farms from noxious organisms is by collective and co-operative steps at village level utilising the expertise available for this purpose. Synchronised and planned action would always be more beneficial to improve the effect of human interventions for ideal crop protection. Decision making regarding suitable and best steps for improving the efficiency of plant protection operations is possible when the entire geographical region, one village or a group of them, as the case may be, would initiate steps in this regard. If insect suppression in cotton has to be detached from constant and injudicious use of insecticides in the crops, much attention has to be paid to conserve natural enemy activity in the crop. This entails a close collaboration and co-operation of farmers on cultural methods in a geographic area. A harmonious pest management programme can be developed only by the integration of biological, chemical and cultural suppression methods, in addition to co-operative efforts of farmers, extension and research staff of all institutions in the region.

Non-chemical cotton pest management

Insecticides have been the best bet for suppressing crop pests. Today more than 50 % of insecticides produced in our country is targeted to cotton crop that occupies only 5% of the total cultivated area. Catastrophic pest flare up was found to recur in many cotton districts of the country because the insecticides destroyed many hapless natural enemies of pests while the target pests learned to resist these toxins. The result was an anomalous expansion of the pest population that virtually became unchecked. Integrated Pest Management (IPM) of pests using biological means became the best method that was adopted by Central Institute for Cotton Research, Nagpur during the last nine years. Since not one method works in isolation to suppress pests, the IPM, that was conceived to be an ecological safety, was directed primarily towards reducing the insecticide use in cotton crop.

Efforts of institutions in R & D of cotton IPM

Central Institute for Cotton Research

The Biocontrol Laboratory of the Institute with the Department of Agriculture, Maharashtra State, has taken up the philosophy of biocontrol-based IPM since 1991. As a first step to this, CICR organised an apex meeting inviting the Additional Director of Agriculture [Extension], Executive Director [Seeds & Extension], Maharashtra State Co-operative Cotton Marketing Federation, Joint Director of Agriculture [Extension], Nagpur; Heads of Entomology Departments of the three state Agricultural Universities, and senior entomologists of CICR to carve out a viable programme to popularise it in Maharashtra.

As part of this programme, all the participating officials at the sub-divisional level including the Principal Agricultural Officers were subjected to intensive field-orientation on bioagents, their mass-production and utilisation in cotton IPM Along with training. Eighty demonstrations on biocontrol-based IPM were proposed to be conducted during 1992 kharif season in all cotton growing area of the state. Twenty-five of them are being done in the districts of Nagpur and Wardha and in Warora Taluk by CICR in association with Cotton Marketing Federation, Central IPM Centre and State Agricultural Department.

Another major extension effort is to popularise the mass production technology of bioagents to progressive farmers and entrepreneurs. CICR offers this consultancy to such aspirants. The institute has now been recognised to be a consultant by the Department of Agriculture, Maharashtra State for both mass- production technology of bioagents as well as for the demonstration of their efficacy. Due to its efforts, these production techniques were popularised to various progressive farmers and entrepreneurs who have established biofactories. The prominent such factories are:

     a. M/S Bio Era, Ramtek, Nagpur (Shri Girish Kathikar & Smt.Manali Kathikar) for            Trichogramma sp. and Bracon.

2. M/S National Biocontrol Lab., Narendra Nagar, Nagpur (Shri Rajesh Ujaoney & Shri Rajesh Kulakarni) for Trichogramma, H- NPV and Trichoderma viride
3. M/S Nathkrupa Biocontrol Nagpur {Dr.(Smt.) Priyanka Karanjkar} for Trichogramma sp., Bracon, and Chrysoperla.

4. M/S Harit Biocontrol Lab, Ghatanji, Yavatmal dist. (Shri Rathod) for H-NPV.

5. M/S Biotech Lab, Yavatmal (Smt. Sawalakhe) for H-NPV and Trichogramma and Chrysoperla

6. M/S Aregbiotech, Nagpur (Dr.R.T.Gahukar) for H-NPV and Trichogramma

7. Ladhha biofactory, Amaravti in Ladha Ginning factory (Shri S.S.Ladha)

8. M/S Ankur Seeds Pvt. Ltd., Nagpur for H.NPV & Trichoderma Spp..

The above is not an exhaustive list of biofactories, but only illustrative.

State Agricultural Universities

SAUs such as Tamil Nadu Agricultural University has pioneered the development of know-how regarding the utilisation of bioagents as well as their mass-production. This has been followed up by some other SAUs like APAU, UAS (Bangalore & Dharwar), RAU etc. There has been a strong impetus due to such efforts of these SAUs in association with their respective State Agricultural Departments. This has also helped many private insectaries to come up that are in this business of mass- production of bioagents.

Cotton Corporation of India

Laudable interventions by Cotton Corporation of India [CCI] and many other private players of cotton trade and business have also given fruits in large scale implementation of IPM in cotton in different parts of our country. CCI sponsored IPM demonstrations in Surat and Bharuch districts in Gujarat, Raichur and Dharwad districts in Karnataka and Guntur in Andhra Pradesh showed that IPM improves yield and reduces cost of cultivation (mainly due to reduction in number of sprays) giving better return to the farmers. CCI helped in establishment of biolaboratories at Raichur and Surat.

Simultaneously, basic research in various aspects at IARI, N.Delhi, and Project Directorate, for Biological Control, Bangalore and at the recently created National Centre for IPM, N.Delhi also has enriched the knowledge base in these fields.

Another notable feature is the presence of private agencies such as M/S Pest Control (India) Ltd. engaged in the supply of bioagents throughout the country.

Role of public and private in promoting and implementing IPM

IPM has been preached and propagated in cotton and other crops where pesticide application has been intense. The role of manufacturers, formulators and dealers of pesticides rose high since the time when intensive cotton production programme demanded more inputs for better crop production. When failure of crop protection increased, there has been an increased awareness for reticence and judiciousness in the application of pesticides. Most of these business houses as well as Non-governmental organisations have now come to the fore to educate farmers on the necessity to reduce the pesticide use for economic crop cutivation.

Future strategies

Although the ingredients of the IPM have been broadly spelt out time and again, specific protocols are necessary at regional and local levels in order to get the effects of IPM practically felt by farmers. A conscientious effort to practise the following steps is necessary.

• Initial insect control should be based on plant resistance to jassids.
• Avoidance of insecticide application in the early phase of crop growth reduces bollworm establishment in the field.
• Insecticide molecules for bollworm management is to be chosen based on pest population build up that is constantly monitored at early life stages.
• Application of different insecticides should be according to the pest status so as to get distinctive periods for each chemical.
• The dosage of insecticides should generally be related to plant size and hence will be less than the recommended dosage until the plant canopy is fully attained.
• Adequate coverage of pesticide solution is to be ensured by good spray distribution and good appliance.
• All the bioagents have to be used in an integrated and sequential manner, based on the prevalence of different life stages of the pests. Their dosage is prescribed for an integrated use and cannot be used in the same way, if individually relied upon.

Sources of information

Carson, R. (1962). Silent Springs. Boston, MA Houghton Miffin 368 pp.

Frisbie, R.E., El Zik, K. and Wilson, L.T. (1989) Integrated Pest Management systems and cotton production Wiley, New York, 437 pp.

Kogan, M. (1988). Ecological Theory and Integrated Management – theory and practice. New York, Wiley. 362 pp.

Kogan, Marcos (1998) Integrated Pest Management: Historical Perspectives and Contemporary Developments. Annual Review of Entomology 43:243-270.