BIO-INTENSIVE INTEGRATED PEST MANAGEMENT IN

CONSERVATION AGRICULTURE
Y.G. Prasad, Principal Scientist (Entomology)
CRIDA, Hyderabad

Dryland crops are grown in resource poor environments. Cost of cultivation is

an important factor in crop management in these areas. Hence, pest management
interventions should necessarily take into account the extent of natural regulation of
pests and diseases underway in any given field. Efforts to conserve and augment bio-
control agents including pathogens, parasites and predators should be envisaged in
this context. Among the various options, microbial biopesticides have an excellent
scope for management of pests in dryland crops when used intelligently. Releases of
parasites or predators in conjunction with bio-pesticide sprays offers greater chance of
their survival and perpetuation of the released agents compared to use of synthetic
chemical pesticides. Biocontrol options also perform well when combined with other
control measures such as use of resistant or tolerant crop varieties for crop pests. Bio-
control agents are density dependent factors and hence their seasonal activity starts
after an initial incidence of crop pests.

Features of some selected bioagents and their field use recommendations in

several crops are presented in this paper. Trichogrammatids are egg parasitoids of
several insect pests such as pod borer and bollworm, Helicoverpa armigera;
defoliators such as Achaea janata and army worm, Spodptera litura; stem borers such
as Chilo sp. In addition to natural parasitisation in the field, Trichogramma parasites
can be released argumentatively in the field through releases of parasitized and
sterilized eggs of Corcyra cephalonica pasted on paper cards. Among the predators,
field releases can be made with Coccinellids: Coccinella septumpunctat,
Cryptolaemus montrouzeri, Scymnus sp. (adult beetles or grub stages) and grubs of
Chrysoperla carnea (Chrysopid).

Biopesticides based on Bt, NPV and GV have now been brought under the
ambit of the Central Insecticide Act, 1968. Commercialization of microbial pesticides
is possible only after registration with the Central Insecticide Board (CIB). At present,
the following NPVs have been registered with the CIB in Inda: NPVs of Helicoverpa
armigera and Spodoptera litura. While regulation is good for quality control of
commercial products, this has led to higher pricing making their field use expensive.
Currently, commercial NPV price ranges between Rs 150-200 for 100 ml product (ca
1 x 109 viral bodies ml-1) for NPVs infecting H. armigera and S. litura. Protection
cost for one spray in cotton at 500 LE (larval equivalents) ha-1 costs Rs 950 and in
chickpea at 250 LE ha-1 costs Rs 475. One spray with Bt at 0.25-0.3% concentration
costs Rs 300-500. It is possible that communities or agencies engaged in organic
farming or low-external input agriculture can produce locally both NPV (Jayaraj et
al., 1989, Ramakrishnan et al., 1976) and Bt (Vimala devi et al., 2005; Vimala devi
and Rao, 2005). The local production can result in reduction of protection cost and
leads to internalization of expenditure within the community which goes well with the
principles of using local resources.

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 i) Viral biopesticides (NPV and GV)
Majority of insect viruses used as biological control agents belong to the
baculovirus group. These viruses are characterized by the presence of rod shaped
nucleocapsid (hence “baculovirus’, from baculum, meaning rod) and the ability to
form proteinaceous occlusion bodies within infected cells. Baculoviruses are of two
types: Nucleopolyhedroviruses (NPVs) and Granuloviruses (GVs) based on the type
of occlusion body formed. NPVs have the following advantages for consideration in
BIPM initiatives: Species-specific action and hence safe to non-target organisms; non-
pathogenic to most beneficial insects and hence fit admirably into bio-intensive IPM
(BIPM) initiatives especially in food crops where pesticide residues are a major
problem and fit well into organic farming. Use of NPVs is possible in several crops
(Prasad and Prabhakar, 2005) and is provided in Table 2.

Table 2. Field use recommendations for NPV/GVs in food and commercial crops
Baculovirus type Crop Crop stage Dosage Number of
(LE ha-1) applications per crop
season
Helicoverpa Red gram Flower 250-500 2-3 at 10-14 days
armigera (gram pod initiation, 50% interval
borer /American flowering and
bollworm) NPV peak flowering
Chickpea 30 DAS and 250 2-3 at 7-12 days
flowering interval
Tomato Fruiting stage 250 3 at 7 days interval
Cotton Fruiting stage 500-750 1-2 at 10 days
interval
Sunflower Flower head 250 1
Groundnut Flowering 250-500 3-4 at 7-10 days
onwards interval
Spodoptera litura Tobacco
(tobacco caterpillar Vegetables 1-3 applications at 7-
Need based 250-500
or leaf worm) NPV Groundnut 14 days interval
Cotton
Achaea janata Castor 35-75 days after 500 2 sprays first applied
(semilooper) GV sowing between 35-50 days
and second at 60-75
days crop age based
on pest incidence

ii) Bacillus thuringiensis(Bt) biopesticide

Bt is a naturally occurring soil bacterium that produces crystal proteins toxic
to several insect species during the sporulation stage of its multiplication cycle. The
crystalline protein inclusion constitutes 20-30% of the dry weight of sporulated cell
allowing for commercial exploitation as a biopesticide. The potential of this bacterium
in the management of several caterpillars causing serious damage to the cultivated
crops world over is well documented over the last fifty years. There are currently
more than a hundred products of Bt registered for the management of important
lepidopteran insect pests such as H. armigera (bollworm), Plutella xylostella

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 (diamond back moth), Trichoplusia ni (looper) and A. janata (Vimala devi et al.,
1996). Bt occupies 95% share of the microbial bio-pesticide market. The principal
reasons for the success of Bt include the high efficacy and insect specificity of its
insecticidal crystal proteins (ICPs) and their bio-degradability. Bt has a good scope
for use by organic farmers especially on fruits and vegetables. The commercial Bt
products are powders containing a mixture of dried spores and toxin crystals. Bt is
applied as a foliar spray best against young caterpillars less than 2 cm long at
concentrations between 0.2-0.3% giving a good coverage on plant surfaces. As Bt is
deactivated by sunlight, spraying in late afternoon or evening or on cloudy days is
most effective. Alkaline water (pH of 7.8) or acid water will deactivate the crystals.
Generally repeat applications may be required under high pest pressure.

iii) Insect pathogenic fungi

Among the insect pathogenic fungi which can be used for insect pest control,
important ones are Beauveria bassiana, Verticillium lecani, Metarhizium anisopliae
and Nomuraea rileyi. B. bassiana has a wide host range and can be used for control of
caterpillars, beetles and bugs. Metarhizium is mainly used for control of grasshoppers
and soil borne pests such as white grubs. Verticillium is used for control of sucking
pests such as thrips and whitefly. Nomuraea is used for control of caterpillar pests on
several crops. Paecilomyces is used for control of nematodes and mites while
Hirsutella is mainly used for the control of mites in several crops. Fungal
biopesticides are most effective when applied under high humidity conditions and
immediately after rain or irrigation under cool weather conditions. Infective unit of
fungal agents is spore and about 1 x 1012 spores are required to treat 1 ha. Generally
talc based formulations are available in the market.

iv) Inundative releases of bio-agents

Apart from conserving native natural enemy populations which are density
dependent mortality factors regulating pest populations in a given agro-ecosystem,
another bio-intensive IPM option available for organic farmers is augmentative
release of natural enemies that multiply during the growing season. Augmentative
release may be made with either short- or long-term expectations depending on the
target pest, the species of natural enemy and the crop involved and can be cost-
effective. The two most commonly released bioagents are: egg parasitoids,
Trichogramma wasps and the predatory lacewing, Chrysoperla carnea.
Trichogramma chilonis is the dominant species of wasps in India. It has been used for
the biological control of several pests in sugarcane, paddy, cotton and maize (Jallali
and Singh, 1993; Prabhakar and Prasad, 2005) (Table 3).

Table3. Field use recommendations for bio-agents

Crop Stage Pest Natural Dosage per Number of
enemy species hectare releases
Rainfed 30 days after Stem borer T. japonicum 50000 eggs 6 at weekly
paddy transplanting interval
Castor 30 days after Semilooper T. chilonis 20000 para- 3 releases at
sowing sitized eggs weekly
intervals
Cotton 45 days Bollworms T. chilonis 150000 6 at weekly
onwards interval
80 days Spodoptera Telenemus 50000 eggs 3 releases at

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 onwards remus weekly
interval
60 days Mealybug Cryptolaemus 125 beetles 3 releases at
onwards montrouzeri weekly
interval
Scymnus sp. 250 beetles 3 releases at
weekly
interval
Maize 45 days Stem borer T. chilonis 75000 6 at 10 days
onwards interval
Tomato 45 days after Fruit borer T. brasiliensis 50000 6 at weekly
transplanting interval
Top shoot T. japonicum 50000 4-6 at 10
borer days
interval
Vegetables 30 days Aphids, C. carnea 5000 grubs 3-4 at 15
onwards Whitefly, days
Thrips, interval
Spodoptera

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