Insect Ecology and Integrated Pest Management(Paper Code: 17010404)

Insect ecology: introduction, environment and its components; effect of abiotic factors: temperature, moisture, humidity, rainfall, light, atmospheric pressure and air currents; effect of biotic factors: food,

competition, natural and environmental resistance; concepts of balance of life in nature, biotic potential and environmental resistance and causes for outbreak of pests in agro-ecosystem;

pest surveillance and pest forecasting; categories of pests.

Integrated Pest Management (IPM): introduction, importance, concepts and tools of IPM – host plant resistance, cultural, mechanical, physical, legislative, biological (parasites, predators and pathogens such as bacteria, fungi and viruses) methods of control;

chemical control: importance, hazards and limitations; classification of insecticides, toxicity of insecticides and formulations of insecticides; study of important insecticides.

Recent methods of pest control: repellents, antifeedants, hormones, attractants, gamma radiation and genetic control; scope and limitations of IPM;

: important provisions; application techniques of spray fluids; phytotoxicity of insecticides; symptoms of poisoning, first aid and antidotes.

Beneficial insects parasites and predators used in pest control and their mass multiplication techniques; important groups of microorganisms: bacteria, viruses and fungi used in pest control and their mass multiplication techniques; important species of pollinators, and scavengers: their importance; non-insect pests:

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Visit to meteorological observatory/automatic weather reporting station; study of terrestrial and pond ecosystems of insects; studies on behaviour of insects and orientation (repellency, stimulation, deterrence);

study of distribution patterns of insects, sampling techniques for the estimation of insect population and damage; pest surveillance through light traps, pheromone traps and field incidence;

practicable IPM practices: mechanical and physical methods, cultural and biological methods; chemical control: insecticides and their formulations; calculation of doses/concentrations of insecticides;

compatibility of pesticides and phytotoxicity of insecticides; IPM case studies;

identification and mass multiplication of important natural enemies; identification and management of honeybees,

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Must know

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1.       Atwal, A. S and Bains, S. S. 1989. Applied Animal Ecology. Kalyani Publishers. New Delhi. 245p

2.       David, B.V. and Kumaraswami, T. 1996 Elements of Economic Entomology. Popular Book Depot, Madras. 536 p.

3.       Dhaliwal, G. S. and Ramesh Arora. 1998. Principles of Insect Pest Management. Kalyani Publishers, New Delhi. 297 p.

4.       Dhaliwal, G. S. and Singh, B. 1998. Pesticides – The Ecological Impact in Developing Countries . Commonwealth Publishers, New Delhi. 256p.

5.       Metcalf, C. K. and Flint, W. P. 1970. Destructive and Useful Insects: Their Habits and Control. Tata McGraw Hill Publishing Company. New Delhi. 1074p.

6.       Odum, E.P. 1996. Fundamentals of Ecology. Nataraj Publishers. Dehra-Dun. 574 p.

7.       Pedigo, L. P. 2002. Entomology and Pest Management. Fourth Edition. Prentice Hall.New Delhi. India. 742p.

8.       Srivastava, K. P. 2003. A Text Book of Applied Entomology. Vol. II. Kalyani Publishers,Ludhiana