Pest management IPM Integrated Pest Management- Theory and practice

What is IPM?

a comprehensive approach to pest control that uses combined means to reduce the status of pests to tolerant levels while maintaining a quality environment

What are the IPM objectives?

1. Reduce pest population

2. Reduce crop susceptibility

3. Prevent economic loss 

4. Accept some pest damage 

5. Maintain the environment

What is the pattern of crop production?

1. Subsistence phase

2. Exploitation Phase

3. Crisis phase

4. Disaster phase

5. Integrated pest management phase

What is the Subsistence phase?

• Pre-synthetic insecticides are used

• Low yields 

• No organized control program

• Rely on natural controls like hand picking, cultural practices, rare insecticide use and luck

• Results in local consumption

What is the Exploitation phase?

• Started with the use of synthetic insecticides and other pesticides

• Large increase in the land farmed by one grower

• Higher yields were possible and became needed because of increased costs

• Control became dependant on insecticides 

  • Fixed spray schedules and prophylactic treatments

What is the Crisis phase?

• More applications are needed to get control

• Higher rates are needed to get control

• Pesticide substitutions occur 

• Pest resurgence occurs

• Secondary pest outbreaks occur

• Higher production costs with less return on investment

What is the disaster phase?

• Production costs outweigh value

• High soil residues- legal problems

• Applications are ineffective despite higher rates, more applications and mixing of materials

• Pest control programs fail

• Crop cannot be grown

What is the Integrated pest management phase?

• Programs based on ecological factors

• Idea is to optimize not maximize

• Some pests are needed in the field 

• Control relies on all available techniques 

  • Cultural and mechanical controls

  • Biological control and plant resistance 

  • Use of insecticides 

  • Monitoring and prediction

What is a sub-economic pest?

• Pests that cause insignificant damage 

• cost for treatment outweights the benefit

What is an occasional pest?

• Always present but rarely cause damage 

• Wait and see if you have to do anything

• Good candidates for pesticides

What is a perennial pest?

• Cause serious damage

• Hardest to control

• Even pesticide may not help at this point