ABSTRACT
Fire, water, electricity, and radiation are some of the main physical forces used in IPM. Flooding in paddy rice cultivation is a major adjuvant method in many parts of the world.
Host Plant Resistance
This means of control is based on breeding crop plants to incorporate genes whose products cause plants to be unsuitable for insects feeding on them (antibiosis) or impair insects’ feeding behavior (antixenosis).[12] Resistance is the only effective method for control of plant viral diseases. Techniques of genetic engineering have opened new opportunities to expand plant resistance in IPM, but the approach is not without risks and should be adopted cautiously, within a strict IPM framework.[13]
Behavioral Control
Behavioral control uses chemicals (allelochemicals) to interfere with normal patterns of mainly sexual (mating) and feeding behaviors of arthropods. Sex pheromones are used for mating disruption.[14,15] Feeding excitants or deterrents are used to disrupt normal feeding behavior or to attract and kill insects.[16]
Sterile Insect Technique
This genetic control method disrupts normal progeny production of the target species by the mass release of sterile insects.[17]
THE SCALE OF IPM SYSTEMS
Most IPM programs focus on single fi elds because of local variability in physical, crop, and pest conditions. Some pests, however, are highly mobile and require a regional approach for their control. Furthermore, certain control tactics are effective only if deployed over large areas. Mating disruption for control of the codling moth in apple and pear orchards in the western United States used an area-wide approach that required a minimum operational unit of about 160 hectares. Advancement of IPM to higher levels of integration will require planning and implementation at the landscape or even ecoregional levels. Advanced technologies of geographic information systems (GISs) and remote sensing are essential for development of such programs. Such planning is still at its infancy in IPM.
