Integrated Pest Management or IPM is a systematic plan to manage crops using different pest control tactics to keep pests below the levels where they can cause economic damage, with least risk to environment. Management does not mean eradicating pests. It means finding tactics that are effective and economical and that keep environmental damage to a minimum.
There is a key belief that the more variety a landscape has, the more sustainable it is. The organic farmer wants to create a system where the insects that are sometimes called “pests” are not eradiated but instead are kept at manageable level by a complex system of checks and balance within a living and vibrant ecosystem. The eradication of pests is not only possible but also undesirable keeping in view the survival of predatory and parasitic interests. Thus, the use of biocontrol measures will greatly reduce our dependence upon toxic chemicals and pesticides.
The four main groups of pests are weeds; invertebrates (insects, mites, ticks, spiders etc); disease agents or pathogens (bacteria, fungi, viruses, nematodes etc); and vertebrates (birds, reptiles, rodents).
Biocontrol agents and bioherbicides are the two major approaches under IPM. Biocontrol is defined as controlling plant diseases and pests using biological methods. The biocontrol depends upon natural predation, e.g., ladybirds and Dragonflies are used to get rid of aphid and mosquitoes. Spores of Bacillus thuringiensis are used to control butterfly caterpillars. The fungus Trichoderma species are effective in control several plant pathogens.
Nucleopolyhedro viruses are pathogens that attack insects and other arthropods. Bioherbicides are the organisms and their extracts which destroy weeds without harming crop plants. They are of three types-predator herbivore (cochineal insect, a herbivore on Opuntia weed), smoother crops (Soyabeans, barley etc.) and mycoherbicides (Phytophthora palmivora does not allow Milk weed vine to grow in citrus orchards).
