Integrated Disease Management: Concepts and Practices

Abstract

Listen

Translate article

The term Integrated Pest Management was first based on the concept of ‘integrated control’ given by the entomologists from University of California, who defined it as “applied pest control which combines and integrates biological and chemical control. Chemical control was used only if necessary and in a way which was least disruptive to biological control”. Entomologists initiated the work on the concept of IPM following the problems faced with pest resistance to insecticides and the ecological damage identified with the widespread use of insecticides in the late 1950s and early 1960s. The concept got further importance due to the programs emphasizing sustainable agriculture, growing public concern regarding pesticides and food safety, greater difficulty in registering new pesticides and mounting pressure from growers and practitioners for IPM tactics. IPM does not seek to eliminate the use of pesticides, but aims to utilize the least disruptive options and to reduce the use of pesticides for pest control to the lowest practical levels. Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) survey showed that over 50% of the developing countries neither had legal means to limit pesticide use nor any code of practice. Whereas, countries like the Netherlands, which have adopted pesticide reduction programs, over 60% reduction in the amount of applied pesticides was achieved, in some seasons. Inclusion of the term ‘IPM’ in plant pathology was only after the formal involvement of plant pathologists with entomologists, nematologists and weed scientists in IPM programs under Huffaker Project, in the USA. Plant pathologists embraced integrated disease management by applying fundamental information on loss potential and pathogen biology, ecology and epidemiology, and applying the basic concepts of plant disease management. The principles of plant disease management should always be based on the integration of basic concepts such as avoidance, exclusion, eradication, protection, resistance and therapy. Adoption of Integrated Pest (Disease) Management against the diseases encountered in vegetable crops is of paramount importance as most of the vegetable crops are not harvested at the end of the crop season but it is spread over a long duration by way of several pickings, as in case of tomato, okra, cucurbits, pea, beans, etc. Moreover, many of the vegetables are eaten raw, therefore, dependence on chemicals for the management of various diseases is a great health hazard to the consumer. This assumes greater importance in the developing countries where the farmers are not educated enough to follow some cut off date for application of chemicals to the standing crops. The present WTO scenario warrants the high quality disease free vegetable produce for ensuring competitive selling in the international market. All these factors along with the growing awareness among the users regarding pesticide residues, pollution to the environment and sub-soil water and increased problem of pathogen resistance towards the pesticides, have been the compelling reasons for moving away from the total dependence up on the pesticides and to adopt IPM strategies that would involve one or more than one concepts of plant disease management.