ABSTRACT
Cucurbits belong to the family Cucurbitaceae, which includes about 118 genera and 825 species. Cucumbers, muskmelons, watermelons, squashes, gourds, and pumpkins are commonly grown cucurbits in most parts of the world. These crops are attacked by a variety of insect pests from seeding until harvest. A lot of time, money, and natural resources are invested to grow these vegetables. Good pest management practices can save this investment by avoiding losses. Successful cultivation of cucurbits requires an effective and economical control of insect pests. Commercial vegetable growers must produce a quality product that is attractive and safe to the consumer at a minimum cost. Insect pest infestations in cucurbits bring about heavy losses through reduction in yield, lowered quality of produce, and increased cost of production and harvesting besides expenditure incurred on materials and equipments to apply control measures. These losses individually and collectively reduce the income of growers and are unacceptable. Effective and economic pest control/management requires the use of cultural, mechanical, biological, and chemical methods. The combination of these different methods is necessary for achieving good management of pests. Insecticides are highly effective in controlling most insect pests. However, a limited number of generally effective pesticides may be used that are safe to apply, handle, and store. The different agencies at their respective countries at the world level regulate the registration and use of pesticides on vegetables and set the tolerance labels for miniscule amounts of residues that are allowed on a crop at the time of harvest. The continual tightening of pesticide regulations has resulted in the present tendency for growers to use a minimum of pesticides and those that disappear rapidly and are readily biodegradable. Consequently, renewed interest is being devoted to research on biological and cultural methods of control besides breeding insect pest-resistant cultivars. Pest management can be achieved only by a long-term assurance to integrated pest management practices (IPM). IPM involves the strategic use of resistant varieties, cultural measures, crop rotations, biological control, and selective pesticides. IPM requires an understanding of the interaction between pests, plants, and the environment. IPM must ensure optimal use of chemical pesticides and minimum environmental contamination to maintain crop production.
