18 Aug Eco-friendly management of insect pests of Cole crops
गोभी फसलों के कीट पतंगों का पर्यावरण-अनुकूल प्रबंधन Cole crops are cultivated extensively in tropical and temperate regions of the world including India. The chief constraint in the production of cole crops is the damage caused by pest complex right from germination till harvest. In India, a total of 37 insect pests have been recorded on cole crops (Lal, 1975). The extent of damage due to these pests in India is known from 7 to 90 per cent with consequent reduction in yield from 20 to 80 per cent (Prasad, 1963). Since cole crops are highly remunerative, intensive plant protection measures involving a number of insecticides are common. In spite of large scale and indiscriminate applications of insecticides, the pests have been found to occur in severe form in all cole crop growing areas. This has resulted in several problems viz., pesticide resistance, resurgence, residue problems, death of natural enemies, environmental pollution etc(Vastrad et al., 2004). These undesirable effects of synthetic chemicalshave encouraged the development of non-chemical package or a programme with least pesticide usage to manage the pests. In recent years, there is a lot of awareness and preference for organically produced foodstuff in the country. Therefore, ecofriendly pest management has gained worldwide attention. This technology is not only effective against crop pests...