Bio Pest Management : Entomopathogenic Nematodes, Microbes and Bioagents

Contents: Preface. About the book. About the editors. Our contributors. 1. Potential of entomopathogenic nematodes for pest control/S.S. Hussaini. 2. Parasitoids and predators in pest management with special reference to Trichogrammatids/S.K. Jalali, T. Venkatesan and Seema Wahab. 3. Importance and utilization of entomopathogenic nematodes for the suppression of insect pests/A.U. Siddiqui, Aruna Parihar and S.K. Sharma. 4. Biological control of root-knot nematodes in India/R.V. Vyas and D.J. Patel. 5. Integrated pest management for sustainable agriculture/H.C.L. Gupta. 6. Practical utilization of entomopathogenic nematodes for insect pest control in India/S.S. Hussaini. 7. Management of endoparasitic phytonematodes particularly Meloidogyne Spp. and Heterodera Spp. through non-chemical methods/D.J. Patel. 8. Mass rearing of entomophagus nematodes and their application techniques for suppression of insect pests/Aruna Parihar, A.U. Siddiqui and Y.S. Yadav. 9. Bio-control of key insect pests through entomopathogenic nematodes/S.S. Ali. 10. Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in the control of nematodes and other soil-borne pathogens/Mahaveer P. Sharma. 11. Mass production technology for Entomopathogenic Nematodes (EPNs) - a new tool for management of insect pests of crops/R.V. Vyas. 12. Biological control of root-knot nematode -- potential of Paecilomyces lilacinus and Pasteuria penetrans/R.K. Kaul. 13. Integrated nematode management in cropping system/Subhash Bhargava. 14. Nematode diseases of maize and millets and their biological control/B.L. Baheti. 15. Nematode diseases of vegetables and their biological control/M.K. Sharma. 16. IDM modules: concepts and advances/S. Gangopadhyay. 17. Biological control of plant diseases: theory and application/Kusum Mathur. 18. Disease management in medicinal and aromatic plants through bioagents and techniques involved/Shyam Sunder Sharma and Kalp Verma. 19. Nematode pests of mushrooms and their management/Anila Doshi and Vikram Singh Meena. 20. Bacterial bioagents for the management of bacterial diseases in plants/Rakesh Shah. 21. Impact of insect defence systems on microbial control of insect pests/R. Swaminathan. 22. Quality control aspects and registration requirements of microbial pesticides/S. Sriram. 23. Biological control of insect pests in crops/N.K. Bajpai. 24. Pest management through chemicals/H.C.L. Gupta. 25. Biotechnological approaches in the control of crop pests, diseases and weeds/Seema Wahab. 26. Nematology pest present and future/B.S. Yadav. 27. Bioinsecticides and biotechnology/H.N. Gour. 28. Entomopathogens and their compatibility with other components for insect pest management in IPM/G.M. Lone, A.U. Siddiqui and Aruna Parihar. 29. A review on the management of Reniform nematode and root rot fungus by sing fungal bio-agents/Tabreiz Ahmad Khan and Mohd. Shaikhul Ashraf. Subject index.

“Insects, pathogens, nematodes and plants have co-existed for nearly about 400 million years. Since then the above pests have been causing enormous losses to the plants amounted to 20-30% losses as per estimates given so far in the country. Realizing the role of these pests as limiting factor in agricultural productivity, several methods were developed and incorporated into management program for economically important pests. Out of these, use of insecticides could initially catch up to the growers because of their ready availability, ability to suppress pest’s populations quickly and increasing productivity. Their use in the past was intense in areas where the thrust was on increasing agricultural productivity and also in those regions where certain crops were introduced in new agro-ecosystem. However, in most instances, their use proved to be a short-term solution rather than a long-term strategy. Pesticides are equally hazardous to livestock, plants and also to the beneficial fauna and flora. Their influence on the non-target organisms has caused ecological imbalance, which is some times difficult to be restored. During the last five decades or so the environmental costs of the pest management strategies on account of chemicals have become too high. Several pesticides have been banned from agricultural use not only in developed countries but also in India through regulatory actions which has triggered a search for alternative management strategies. Efforts are now being made in this direction so that effective non-chemical methods could be evolved with the sole aim of reducing pest population by using naturally occurring macro and micro-organisms, capable of suppressing pest population.

Biological control of pests using Entomopathogenic Nematodes (EPN’s) is gaining popularity in the recent time, as it has long-term effect without any harmful effect on non-target organisms. These are potential agents, highly virulent, have broader host range and can bring out quick kill or target insect pests. These can easily be cultured in abundance, applied using standard application equipment and are found compatible with many chemical pesticides in action and cost less than other chemical pesticides. They can also be incorporated as an important component in the integrated Pest Management Programme.

In view the importance of Entomopathogenic Nematodes as a key component along with other bioagents such as parasitoids, predators, pathogens and also with selective pesticides for the management strategy of pests of agricultural importance could be formulated based upon socio-economic and ecological sustainability. The topics discussed in this book would be useful not only to the students but the information given could be utilized to develop management strategies for the effective pest control.” (jacket)