Plant protection issues in Organic crop production - Jaibbihar

Plant protection issues in
Organic crop production
Om Bambawale
bambawale1@gmail.com
National Centre for Integrated Pest Management, New Delhi
Ncipm.org.in

Need of The Hour !
Ensure food and nutritional security in view of
increasing population within limited resources
Reduce economic losses incurred by various pests with
improved plant protection practices
80,000 plant diseases, 10,000 insects
30,000 weed species and 3,000 worms
( yield loss 18% Rs 200,000 crores/annum)
Prevent losses caused by various “pests”

INTENSIVE AGRICULTURE
1950 2010
6 Fold increase in pests
3 Fold increase in losses

Year Outbreaks
2001 All over India Helicoverpa armigera on cotton, pigeonpea and chickpea
2004 Spodoptera litura on soybean in Kota region of Rajasthan
2005 Potato late blight in the northern belt of Punjab, UP
2006 Gujarat: mealy bug on cotton
2007 Punjab: mealy bug on cotton
2008 BPH and neck blast on rice in the northern Indo Gangetic belt
2008 Spodoptera litura on soybean in Maharashtra / Potato LB in WB
2008-09 Paracoccus marginatus (mealy bug ) on papaya , tapioca, mulberry
Chronic pests
In addition gummosis of citrus, nematode problems on rice
and vegetables, white grubs on sugarcane spreading in
alarming proportions

Pressing Pest Problems in India
Insect Pests
Helicoverpa armigera / Spodoptera / / Rice BPH / stem
borer / White grubs / termites /Fruit fly / Luella
xylostella / Mites /mealy bugs, etc.
Diseases
Sheath blight-neck blast-tungro of rice / maize downy
mildews / bract mosaic in banana / Wilts / Virus
diseases / Phytophthora diseases citrus / parawilt in
cotton/ mango malformation, etc.
Nematodes
Root knots, reniform, burrowing nematodes, root knot
complex with Ceratocystis fimbriata in pomegranate /
citrus / root knot on mulbery, etc.
Each pest-type needs to be addressed in a different way!

IPM: A sustainable approach to
managing pests by combining
biological, cultural and chemical
tools in a way that minimizes
economic, environmental and
health risks.
IPM aims for Sustainable Agriculture
Bio-pesticides

Classification of Pest Management
Routine Rational Integrated Biological
Reductionist
(Pesticide treadmill)
Scale of Pesticide Use
Holistic
(IPM treadmill)
Increasing Stable or Declining
(Benbrook 1996)
The IPM Continuum
Source : S. Vennila, 2000

Crop varieties with multiple pest
resistant/tolerance
IPM System and its Sub-Systems
VII Chemical
Control
VI Botanical
Pesticides
Judicious use of pesticides
Use of plant products
V Other
Measures
Physical measure like manual removal, radiation,
solar heat treatment, thermotherapy, pheromone
traps etc.
I Host Plant
Resistance
IPM
IV Biological
Control
Natural enemies, bio-control agents, biopesticides etc.:
application & enhancement
Quarantine, certification of planting materials etc.
II Regulatory
Measures
III Cultural
Practices
Time of planting, spacing, crop rotation, variety,
mixed cropping, relay cropping, trap crops,
mulching, fields sanitation, summer ploughing,
soil solarization, integrated nutrient management,
proper irrigation, green manuring, residue
management etc.

IFOAM Basic Standards
International Foundation for Organic Agriculture Movement
Plant and animal origin
Algal preparations
Animal preparations and oils
Chitin nematicides (natural origin)
Corn gluten meal (disease & weed control)
Dairy products
Natural acids (e.g. vinegar)
Neem (disease & insects)
Plant oils
Pyrethrum – the synergist piperonyl butoxide is prohibited.
Quassia
Rotenone
Ryania
Sabadilla
Tobacco tea (pure nicotine is forbidden)

Mineral origin
Chloride of lime
Clay
Copper salts – max 8kg/ha/year (on a rolling average basis)
Diatomaceous earth
Light mineral oils
Lime sulphur
Potassium and sodium bicarbonate
Potassium permanganate
Silicates
Sulphur
Microorganisms
Fungal preparations
Bacterial preparations
Release of parasites, predators, sterilised insects
Viral preparations

Others
Biodynamic preparations
Calcium hydroxide
Ethyl alcohol
Homeopathic and Ayurvedic preparations
Sea salt and salty water
Soda
Soft soap
Sulphur dioxide
Traps, barriers, repellants
Physical methods (e.g. chromatic, mechanical traps)
Mulches, nets
Pheromones – in traps and dispensers only

SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE
STARTS WITH A
HEALTHY PLANT

• Healthy Plants
• Pest problems indicate –
Natural Immunity
Resistance to pests
inadequate growing conditions
Predisposition (Theophrastus 300 BC)
Sir Albert Howard
(Father of Organic Farming)

Conservation vis-à-vis pesticide use
High IPM Low
Importance of Natural Enemies
Importance of Insecticides
Low High
Pesticide Selectivity
Temporal separation of natural enemies and pesticides
Spatial separation of natural enemies and pesticides
Improved knowledge of ETL of non target pests and natural enemies

CROP HABITAT DIRVERSITY
ENHANCES NATURAL ENEMIES
SUSTAINABLE PEST MANAGEMENT

Habitat Manipulation
Ecological compensation areas
Minimum required ecological compensation areas is 5 to
10% of an agricultural landscape
Tomato + Marigold
legumes with maize
Spinach / beans / tomato in cabbage
Chickpea with barley / mustard / coriander

Providing Artificial Structures
Spider nos./hill 5.3 (IPM), 1.2 (FP)

Mealy bug in cotton - parasitoids
saved Bt technology !
Promuscidea unfasciativentris
Gujarat
Rajasthan
Karnataka
Punjab
Haryana
Madhya Pradesh
Maharashtra
Aenasius bambawalei
Occurrence of Mealy bug and parasitoids in Cotton
A
A-Aenasius
P- Promuscidea
A
Delhi
A
P
P
Andhra Pradesh
Tamil Nadu
Gujarat
100% parasitization by Aenasius

AUGMENTATIVE / INOCULATIVE BIOCONTROL
• Pests : Parasitoids, Predators and Pathogens
• Plant Pathogens : Antagonists
• Nematodes : Pathogens, VAM
POTENTIAL PARASITOIDS
• Trichogramma spp.
• Apanteles spp.
• Leptomastix dactylopii
• Encarsia gudaloupae
• Aphelinus mali
• Goniozus nephantidis
• Epipyrops
PREDATORS
Coccinellids : Cryptolaemus
Lace wings : Chrysoperla
Mirids : Cyrtorhinus
Predatory mites, Spiders, Birds, Bats,
Frogs

Biological control of insect pests
Available mass production techniques for bioagents
26 Egg parasitoids
06 Egg larval
39 Larval / nymphal parasitoids
26 Predators
07 Weed feeders

Insect Viruses
Bacteria
Fungal pathogens
Microsporidia
EPNs
EPN-Symbionts
Microbe alternatives to chemical pesticides:
Insect Pest Management
NPVs, GVs, Non-Occcluded viruses
Bacillus thuringiensis, B. sphaericus, B. popilliae
Beauveria bassiana / Metarhizium anisopliae /
Verticillium lecanii / Nomuraea rileyi / Paecilomyces
lilacinus / P.farinosus / Hirsutella thompsonii
Nosema spp. / Vairimorpha necatrix
Steinernematids, Heterorhabditids
Photorhabdus / Xenorhabdus spp.

Plant disease management
Trichoderma spp. wide spectrum including nematodes
Pseudomons fluorescens wide spectrum including nematodes
Bacillus subtilis soil borne pathogens
Sporidesmium sclerotivorum sclerotium forming fungi
Coniothyrium minitans
Pythium oligandrum damping offs
Ampelomyces quisqualis powdery mildews
Talaromyces flavus sclerotinia, Verticillium dahliae
Debaryomyces hansenii / Candida olephila
Saccharomyces cerevisiae / Rhodosporidium Post harvest pathogens
toruloides

MICROBIAL PESTICIDES

Biopesticides registered
1. Trichoderma species
2. Gliocladium species
3. Pseudomonas fluorescens
4. Bacillus species (B. subtillis, B. thuringiensis, B. sphaericus)
5. Beauveria bassiana
6. Metarrhizium anisopliae
7. Nomuraea rileyi
8. Verticillium lecanii
9. Hirsutella spp. (included in the schedule of Insecticide Act)
10. Granulosis viruses (GV)
11. Nuclear polyhedrosis viruses (NPV)
12. Karanjin (Pongamia glabra)
13. Cymbopogan species, and
14. Neem based biopesticides

Different type of traps
Kerocene lighted light traps
Sex Pheromone traps
Mating disrupting lures
Delta Sticky traps
Pit traps
Water

Critical component of IPM
Monitoring adult population of Yellow Stem borer
• Installation
of
Pheromone
traps (5/ha)
• Walk
through
fields for
physical
monitoring
of crop
health and
assessing
predator
pest index.

Light trap safer to Natural enemies
< or = 5
mm
Pod borer moth 2
cm
Most NEs < 5 mm

DEVICE FOR BENEFICIAL INSECTS

Issues in Biological Control

Constraints of Biopesticide Technology
Customer
Level
Marketing
Level
Courtesy: Kanbiosys, Pune
Production
Level

Screening of some isolates of Trichoderma against F. ciceri

Specificity in Pseudomonas fluorescens against S. rolfsii
After three days:
Pseudomonas
(NCIPM)
Control
Specificity in Pseudomonas
fluorescens against Phytophthora
nicotianae
Pf strains compatible with
T. harzianum (GB Pant Univ.)
Control
Jaspur isolate Delhi isolate

Species specificity of Beauveria bassiana Verified at
NCIPM
• B. Bassiana CICR, Nagpur strain: Whitefly
• B. bassiana PAU strains (which are effective against
Phomopsis fruit rot of brinjal) not infective to H.
armigera
• B. bassiana NCIPM strain highly infective to H.
armigera

Issue of CFU counts of biopesticides
Gap of 10 - 100 Kg /ha between the research
findings and the existing standards of
commercial availability

IPM validation in Organic Rice
Location : Kaithal (Har)
Area under certified organic rice 896 ha &
200 ha under conversion
Area Under Farmers Participatory trials ( 50 ha)
From : Agrocel Ind., Ltd., Kaithal
Satpal Chahar
Hansmukh Patel
Promod Chouhan

Module – IPM Organic
• Sanitation
• Elevated fields (fortified FYM [Trichoderma ], BGA-
Biofertilizer, neem cake, bio-tercel etc.,)
• Green manuring with Sesbania /black / greengram
• Application of Rock phosphate
• Seedling dipping in solution of Pseudomonas spp
• Pheromone traps (YSB) for Monitoring / Trapping
• Preventive sprays of CaSo4, Trichoderma,
Pseudomonas , neem oil and Herbozymes.
• Detopping, rope running, release of Trichogramma
japonicum, conservation of spiders and other natural
enemies

Challenges
• Scientific validation of traditional agricultural
practices that have increased land productivity
and used resources sustainably, scientific studies
on organic farms that report higher yield than
conventional farms
• Production and supply of organic seeds, organic
manure, organic bio-fertilizers and bio-pesticides
• Organic agricultural faculties in prominent
agricultural universities
• Extension services and training for the farmers
• Government policy initiatives and assistance to
conversion processes
• Development of a local market to supplement the
growing export market