Principles of Crop Protection

• Principles of Crop Protection are discussed.
• The University of Negros Occidental-Recoletos' Agriculture Program is mentioned.

Course Outcomes

• Students will learn the basics, principles, and philosophy of pest management.
• Pest management's complexity within the ecosystem is used to create safe, ecologically sound, and economical programs.
• Students will analyze pest situations in the field and the factors that allow pests to develop, establish, and survive.

World Population and Food Supply

• The current world population is around 8 billion and is still growing.
• The world has a total land area of 150,000,000 km².
• More than enough land exists to produce food for the population.
• Only 10% of the land is arable, and 1% is used for permanent crops.
• 24% is meadows and pastures, 31% is forests and woodlands, and 34% is land with little or no vegetation.
• 80% of potentially arable land in Asia is currently under cultivation, with rice as a primary crop.
• The Green Revolution provided an answer to food security about four decades ago.
• Planting identical high-yielding varieties reduces genetic diversity, increases vulnerability to pests, and necessitates pesticide use.
• Agriculture uses much fresh water, and there is high dependency on technology.

Role of Crop Protection in Increasing Food Security

• Organizations like CGIAR, IRRI, and ICTA unify to guarantee food security in 46 countries.
• Agencies have focused on increasing yield from each land unit since farming more land is not an option.
• The crop protection sector helps safeguard against losses caused by pests.
• Crop protection is important in intensive agriculture, where there is increased fertilization, genetically uniform high-yielding varieties, and increased irrigation.
• Crop losses affect national and world supplies, economies, and individual farmers.

Definition of Pests

• A pest is judged by humans to cause harm to themselves, crops, animals, or property.
• A pest reduces the availability, quantity, or value of a human resource.

Categories of Pests

• Key or serious pests are perennially occurring persistent species and a focal point of pest management systems.
• Occasional pests rise to economically damaging levels only at certain times or places and are relatively minor.
• Potential pests cause no significant damage, under prevailing conditions, in agroecosystems.

Economic Importance of Pests

• Farmers/growers compete with harmful organisms (pests) since agriculture began.
• Farmers vary management methods based on crops and their pest/disease susceptibility.
• Farmers balance pest/disease prevention and treatment methods against environmental damage.
• The economic importance of pests includes disease transmission, loss or reduction in seed germination, seed abortion, reduced seed quality, and reduced yield.

Various Disciplines Involved in Crop Protection

• Crop protection involves several disciplines dealing with insects, arthropods, diseases, weeds, vertebrate pests (rodents, birds), and invertebrate pests (mollusks).
• Plant pathology increases knowledge about plant diseases and develops methods to avoid/control them.
• The Green Revolution led to the recognition of Weed Science as an aspect of crop protection.
• In Southeast Asia, weed science is still in its early stages compared to entomology and plant pathology.

Entomology

• Entomology is the science of insects and a division of zoology.
• Entomology studies all phases of insect life and their role in nature.
• Entomology also usually covers other arthropods, like mites and ticks, that share habitats and cause similar pest problems.

Specialized Fields of Entomology

• Insect morphology studies the comparative anatomy and development of insects.
• Insect physiology studies the physical and chemical changes within insects.
• Insect ecology studies the interrelationship of insects with the environment.
• Insect taxonomy classifies and identifies insects.
• Economic entomology deals with species important in a beneficial or injurious way.
• Insect pathology studies pathology applied to insects, causing disease or injury.
• Medical entomology studies insects that parasitize man/domestic animals or serve as vectors of human/animal diseases.

Importance of Insects

• Insects produce, contain, and collect useful products or articles of commerce.
• Silkworm saliva is the true silk of commerce.
• Beeswax is a secretion from hypodermal glands of the honeybee's abdomen.
• Shellac is secreted from hypodermal glands on the back of the lac insect (Kerria lacca).
• Giant fireflies produce a light-producing secretion with almost no accompanying heat.
• Honey is produced by honeybees.
• Cochineal dye comes from dried cactus scale insects (Dactylops coccus).
• Dobsonfly larvae are used as fish bait.
• Insects can be food for humans and feed for domesticated animals.
• Insects utilized as human food include termites, mole crickets, grasshoppers/locusts, beetles/grubs, eggs, and weaver ant immatures.
• Insects as feed include Musca larvae/pupae, silkworm pupae, and mealworm larvae.
• Pollinators include Hymenoptera (ants, bees, wasps), Lepidoptera (moths, butterflies, skippers), Coleoptera (beetles, weevils), Diptera (true flies), and Thysanoptera (thrips).
• Insects act as parasites/parasitoids, predators, and control weeds.
• Chromolaena odorata (devil weed) is controlled by Pareuchaetes pseudoinsulata (Lepidoptera).
• Butterflies and other insects with interesting features have aesthetic value when used for decoration.
• Insects are used as an index of ecological quality by indicating the prevalent environmental condition.
• Aquatic insects can indicate the prevalent environmental condition.
• Bee venom is used to cure arthritis.
• Cantharidin from European blister beetles is used as a cure for urogenital problems.
• Chitin or its derivatives act as an anticoagulant or hemostatic agent for tissue repair in humans and to enhance the healing of wounds and burns.
• Insects improve the physical condition of the soil and promote soil fertility.
• Insects burrow and deposit metabolic waste products; important in the decomposition process; feed on decaying materials.
• Insects help rid the earth's surface of decaying organic matter.

Insects as Pests

• Insects cause damage by:
  • Chewing leaves, buds, stems, bark, or fruits.
  • Sucking sap from leaves, buds, stems, or fruits.
  • Boring or tunneling in bark, stems, twigs, fruits, nuts, seeds, or between leaf surfaces.
  • Causing cancerous growths on plants.
  • Attacking roots and underground stems.
  • Laying eggs in parts of the plant.
  • Taking parts of the plant for nest or shelter construction.
  • Carrying other insects to plants and establishing them there.
• Insects can be pests of man and other animals as household and veterinary pests.
• Insects can be pests for stored products and personal possessions (weevils, termites, powder post beetles).
• Insects can disseminate plant diseases and pathogens like fungi, bacteria, protozoa, and viruses.
• They cause cross-fertilization of certain rusts, which cause diseases of plants.