Abstract
Plant protection represents one of the strategies to fill the yield gap and to achieve food security, a key topic for India development. Analysis of climate risks for crops indicates that South Asia is one of the regions most exposed to the adverse impact on many plants that are relevant to inhabitants exposed to food safety risks. Furthermore, accumulation of pesticide residues in the aquatic and other ecosystems is becoming a significant threat in India. These perspectives require to develop programs of crop protection that can be feasible according to Indian rural development and pollution policy. Here we review the research works done on soil solarization in India. Soil solarization (also called plasticulture) is an eco-friendly soil disinfestations method for managing soil-borne plant pathogens. This is the process of trapping solar energy by moist soil covered with transparent polyethylene films and chemistry, biology and physical properties of soil are involved in pest control. So far, this technique is applied in more than 50 countries, mostly in hot and humid regions. India has 29 states and these states fall under five climatic zones, from humid to arid ones. We report pest management application in different climatic zones and their effects on production, weeds, nematodes, and pathogenic microorganisms. The analysis of soil temperatures and crop protection results indicate as environmental requirement for soil solarization fits in most of Indian rural areas. Soil solarization is compatible with future Indian scenarios and may support Indian national food security programs.
Highlights
Though the pesticide consumption rates are high in the most productive areas of India and comparable to the high amounts used per hectare in the other parts of the world (Europe or United States), vast territories of poor crop production areas with nil or very low pesticide consumption pulls down the national average
Further study conducted in southern Italy, documented that integration of soil solarization with organic amendments keep microbiota and soil enzymatic properties protected from deleterious heating effects (Scopa and Dumontet, 2007)
Soil solarization trials reported in this review were not systematically carried out within a national framework, whereas some soil solarization benefits or economies of scale are highlighted by its application at large scale
Summary
The yield gap is a hiatus between actual production and the best yield achievable using genetic material and available technologies and management It strongly depends on the possibility of farmers to access most appropriate genetic resources (seeds, plants), natural inputs (suitable soil and water), knowledge (practices and information), and technology (pest management, mechanization) (Godfray et al, 2010). This gap is not irrelevant and, in many areas worldwide, represents one of the main factors that prevent the achievement of food security (PinstrupAndersen, 2009). In parts of Southeast Asia, where water for agricultural purposes is usable, it has been estimated that average production of rice is just more than half of potential production using optimized input (Cassman, 1999)
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