Integrated Pest Management Of Tropical Vegetable Crops

It is an edited book with chapters written by multi-disciplinary specialists in their specific subject areas. It covers development of IPM components and packaging them for individual vegetable crops specifically targeted to tropical countries. Scientific background for IPM components or tactics will be included. There will be case studies of IPM packages developed and implemented in different countries. The concept of IPM has been in existence for the past six decades; however, a practical holistic program has not been developed and implemented for vegetable crops, in the developing countries. Currently the IPM adoption rate in the tropics is minimal and there is a need for implementation of IPM technologies that are environmentally safe, economical, and socially acceptable. We believe that adoption and implementation of IPM provided in this book will lead to significant reduction in crop losses and mitigate adverse impacts of pesticide use in the tropics. This book is an outcome 20 years of research, development and implementation of the IPM CRSP, a project supported by USAID and administered by Virginia Tech in several developing countries along the tropical belt in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean. ​

This new book on the sustainable management of insect pests in important vegetables offers valuable management strategies in detail. It focuses on eco-friendly technology and approaches to mitigating the damage caused by insect pests with special reference to newer insecticides. Chapters in the volume provide an introduction to vegetable entomology and go on to present a plethora of research on sustainable eco-friendly pest management strategies for root vegetables, spice crops, tuber crops, and more. Vegetable crops that are infested by several insect pests from the nursery to the harvesting stage cause enormous crop losses. Given that it is estimated that up to 40 percent of global crops are lost to agricultural pests each year, new research on effective management strategies is vital. The valuable information provided in this book will be very helpful for faculty and advanced-level students, scientists and researchers, policymakers, and others involved in pest management for vegetable crops.

Successful Cultivation Of Vegetables Is Hampered Due To The Incidence Of Several Insect Pests, Diseases And Nematodes. Pest Management In Vegetables In South Asia Is A Very Complex Issue In View Of The Sub-Tropical Climate, Intensive Cultivation Of High Yielding Varieties/Hybrids Under High Fertigation, Off-Season Production, Lack Of Adequate Knowledge On Plant Nutrition And Protection, Economic Constraints To Maximize Qualitative Returns And Inability To Afford Risk. A Total Of 65 Million Mt As Pre-Harvest Losses In Vegetables Due To Diseases Alone In The World Have Been Estimated That Accounts For 10.5%. Many Ipm Technologies Using Trap Crops, Botanicals And Bioagents Have Been Developed In Some Vegetables And A Few Are Validated In Farmers Field. The Information On Pests, Diseases And Nematodes On Vegetable Crops Is Very Much Scattered. There Is No Book At Present Which Comprehensively And Exclusively Deals With The Above Aspects On Vegetable Crops. The Present Book Deals With Integrated Pest, Disease And Nematode Management In Vegetable Crops In Detail Using Regulatory, Physical, Cultural, Chemical, Biological, Host Plant Resistance And Integrated Methods. This Book Is A Practical Guide To Growers Of Vegetable Crops. Further, It Is A Useful Reference To Students, Researchers, Extension Workers And Policy Makers. The Book Can Also Be Used For Teaching Undergraduate And Postgraduate Courses As Well.

Providing a critical evaluation of the management strategies involved in ecologically-based pest management, this book presents a balanced overview of environmentally safe and ecologically sound approaches. Topics covered include biological control with fungi and viruses, conservation of natural predators, use of botanicals and how effective pest management can help promote food security. In the broader context of agriculture, sustainability and environmental protection, the book provides a multidisciplinary and multinational perspective on integrated pest management useful to researchers in entomology, crop protection, environmental sciences and pest management.

This book provides up-to-date and comprehensive coverage of the research and application of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) in tropical regions. The first section explores the agro-ecological framework that represents the foundations of IPM, in addition to emerging technologies in chemical and biological methods that are core to pest control in tropical crops. The second section follows a crop-based approach and provides details of current IPM applications in the main tropical food crops (such as cereals, legumes, root and tuber crops, sugarcane, vegetables, banana and plantain, citrus, oil palm, tea, cocoa and coffee) and also fibre crops (such as cotton) and tropical forests.