The challenges posed by pests in vegetable cultivation are evolving rapidly in response to changes in cropping systems and environmental conditions. Given the potential negative impacts of synthetic pesticides that are difficult to break down, a comprehensive approach that incorporates host plant resistance, cultural and biological management strategies, and the use of safe pesticidal chemicals is necessary to address this complex and delicate issue.
This book presents an extensive examination of the host range, distribution, identification marks, and bionomics of pests, as well as the use of protected cultivation, host plant resistance, biological control, and pesticide residue management strategies. It has been authored by experts from various reputable institutes across India.
This book will be of use to students, professors, and teachers of horticulture, plant protection, acarology, and nematology, as well as progressive farmers, extension workers, plant protection specialists, and policy makers. It will serve as a valuable resource and a must-have for every librarys collection.
Vegetables are the highly valuable sources of carbohydrates, proteins, minerals and vitamins and thus play an important role in balanced nutrition of human beings. Majority of Indian populations are vegetarian and they depend mainly upon vegetables to fulfil their dietary requirement. In addition to that, vegetables are the excellent choice for cash crop.
Taxonomy is the science of identifying (discovering), describing, naming and classifying organisms. It is a complex summing up of knowledge starting with thorough analysis to base the synthesis that will end up in the name of a taxon. Correct identification of biological taxa is a necessary pre-requisite to all other enquiries about the biological world.
Brinjal (Solanum melongena Linn.) is one of the widely used vegetable crops and is popular in many countries viz. Central, South and South-East Asia, some part of Africa and Central America (Gurubban, 1977). It is also known as the aubergine, eggplant, melongene, guinea squash etc. Various data indicate that from the several species that evolved in Africa, one (Solanum incanum), gave rise to a distinct species which spread to South-East Asia as the wild ancestor of Solanum melongena (Lester, 1998).
‘Cucurbits’ is a term coined by Liberty Hyde Bailey for cultivated species of the family Cucurbitacae (Robinson and Decker-Walters, 2004). Presently, the term has been used not only for cultivated forms, but also for any species of the family Cucurbitacae. Among vegetables, the cucurbits form one of the largest groups with their wide adaptation from arid climates to the humid tropics.
Potato is one of the major non cereal food crops in the world and ranks fourth after rice, wheat and maize. Due to its high production potential per unit area and time, the crop has been recorded for sustaining millions of lives during the times of war and hunger. Native of South America, this crop was introduced into India in early seventieth century. Currently India ranks 3rd for area and 2nd for production in the world [AICRP (Potato) Bulletin No. 2].
Okra (Abelmoschus esculentus Moench), otherwise known as Lady’s finger or Bhindi is an annual malvaceous plant and the sixth important vegetable crop cultivated throughout the country mostly in kharif and summer seasons. Though it is reported to be originated from tropical and sub-tropical Africa, but it has gained much importance in India as the secondary centre of origin. India ranked first in okra production in the World and major okra producing Indian states are Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Orissa, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Assam (Anonymous, 2011).
Tomato, Lycopersicon esculentum Mill. is an important vegetable cultivated throughout the world; both outdoors and under protected structures for fresh market consumption and processing. In India this nutritive rich vegetable is grown over an area of 0.60 m ha with an estimated production of 11.9 mt. Productivity of tomato in India is lower (18.6 t/ha) than the world productivity (27 t/ha) (Anonymous 2009). Tomato is grown in a wide range of climatic conditions across states of Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, Karnataka, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Bihar, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.
Members of the family Cruciferae commonly used as vegetable include Cabbage, Cauliflower, Broccoli, Brussels sprouts and mustard etc. The genus Brassica is known for its important agricultural and horticultural crops. A dislike for cabbage or broccoli can result from the fact that these plants contain a compound similar to Phenyl thiocarbamide (PTC), which is bitter or tasteless to some people depending on their ‘taste buds’ (Theresa, 1995).
The green pepper or chilli is reported to be the native of tropical America (Thompson and Kelly, 1957). This was widely cultivated in Central and South America in early times and was unknown in Europe prior to the discovery of America. The chilli belongs to the family Solanaceae and genus Capsicum. Only four species are under cultivation, out of which the cultivation of the two, Capsicum pendulum and Capsicum pubescens, are restricted to South and Central America.
In countries like India, where majority of the population are vegetarians, leguminous vegetables serve as the major source of protein in the diet. In the developing third world countries, especially for the poor, the major protein source in the diet are vegetable legumes. Most leguminous vegetables are rich in phosphorus, calcium, iron and a number of essential vitamins. Crops like soybean, groundnut and Bamabara groundnut are also rich in fats which are needed by the body to absorb vitamin A.
Sweet potato, Ipomoea batatas (Linn.) originated in northwestern South America around 8000 - 6000 BC. The plant is a dicotyledonous, herbaceous, trailing vine which is the only economically important member of the family Convolvulaceae. The plant is generally characterised by starchy, succulent and tuberous storage roots; alternating palmately lobed leaves and medium sized sympetalous flowers which grow individually and vary in colour from white to varying degrees of purple (Austin et al., 1991).
Moringa oleifera Linn. belongs to the family Moringaceae, that consists of only one genus with about 13 species of deciduous trees (Keay, 1989). It is believed to be the native of India-Pakistan-Nepal borders, but now is becoming widely distributed and grown in several countries, particularly in tropical and subtropical regions (Satti et al., 2013).
Curry leaf, Murraya koenigii (Linn.) is one of the most important plants exclusively known for its culinary and medicinal value. Leaves of the plant are widely used for flavouring food in Indian cookery. Leaves are also used in many Indian Ayurvedic and Unani prescriptions (Joseph and Peter, 1985). The whole plant including leaves, stems, flower, fruits and roots are used as tonic, stimulant, anti-flatulent, anti-diabetic, anti-oxidant (Khan et al., 1997) and anti-carcinogenic (Khanum et al., 2000).
Coriander, Coriandrum sativum L. is an erect annual herb belongs to the family Apiaceae. Coriander may also be referred to as Cilantro, Chinese parsley or Dhania. In India it is cultivated in Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh etc. The leaves of the plant are variable in shape, broadly lobed at the base of the plant. Leaves are slender and feathery higher on the flowering stems.
Leafy vegetables are the herbs that are grown for their edible greens (leaves). Leafy vegetables are also called pot-herbs, greens, vegetable greens, and leafy greens are plant leaves eaten as a vegetable, sometimes accompanied by tender petioles and shoots. They come from a very wide variety of plants. As per Singh and Arora (1978), about 220 species belonging to the families, Amaranthaceae, Chenopodiaceae, Araceae, Asteraceae, Convolvulaceae, Malvaceae, Nymphalaceae, Papilionaceae etc. occur in India.
Elephant foot yam, Amorphophallus campanutatus Blume (= Arum campanulatum Roxb.) belongs to the family Araceae. It is also known as elephant yam, Elephant bread, Suran, Sweet yam etc. It is a native to Tropical Asia and is found throughout the plains of the Indian sub-continent and some other parts of South East Asia and Africa growing both wild as well as cultivated.
Protected cultivation practices can be defined as a cropping technique wherein the micro environment surrounding the plant body is controlled partially or fully as per plant need during their period of growth to maximize the yield and resource saving. Cultivation of vegetables under protective structures such as net houses has become popular in recent years (Kaur et al., 2004; Cheema et al., 2004; Singh et al., 2004).
Endowed with varied agro-climatic situations, topography and soil type, India has been a leading vegetable producing country in the world occupying the second position in vegetable production after China with an annual production of 87.53 million tonnes from 5.86 million hectares having a share of 14.4 per cent to the world production. With commercial cultivation of as many as 61 annual and 4 perennial vegetables, India is the most diverse vegetable growing country in the world (Prakash et al., 2006).
Vegetables are the largest important constituent of our daily diet as well as high value cash crops for small, marginal and large scale growers. These are rich in proteins, vitamins, minerals and dietary fibre which are essential for our normal body functions, prevention of malnutrition and deficiency diseases. Vegetables also play key role in neutralizing the acids produced during digestion of fatty foods and also provide valuable roughages which help in movement of food in intestine.
Mites are small arthropods belonging to the sub-class Acari (also known as Acarina) and the class Arachnida. The scientific discipline devoted to the study of ticks and mites is called acarology. In soil ecosystems, mites are favored by high organic matter content and by moist conditions, wherein they actively engage in the fragmentation and mixing of organic matter (Nyle and Ray, 2009).
Biological control is a strategy which employs utilization of natural enemies to reduce the damage caused by noxious organisms to tolerable levels (De Bach and Rosen, 1991). This is the most benign method for reducing pest population in vegetable ecosystem. It opens an amicable platform for production of organic vegetables with good export value. Since the late 1950s, much of the insect control in vegetables has been based on the use of synthetic chemical insecticides.
Fresh vegetables are essential part of a healthy diet as it is an important source of vitamins, minerals and fibers. The nutritional content of vegetables varies considerably, though generally they contain little protein, fat and varying proportions of vitamins such as Vitamin A, Vitamin K and Vitamin B6, pro- vitamins, dietary minerals and carbohydrates (Woodruff, 1995; Whitaker, 2001).
To reduce the dependence on hazardous pesticides in modern agriculture, one of the most promising ways is to use insect-resistant cultivars. When available, planting resistant cultivars is one of our most effective, economically viable and environmentally sound tactics. The underlying concept of using host resistance to our advantage comes from the knowledge that most plants and animals are resistant to most potential insect attackers.
