eChapters

The produced food grains have to be stored either for short or long duration for utilization in the coming times for food, feed and seed. In storage, these undergo 9.33 per cent losses due to various agencies such as rodents, insects and mites, microorganism and moisture in India, whereas, in other developing countries, the losses are as high as 30 to 50 per cent. Therefore, with an urge to produce more, there is still urgent need to protect the produce in the storage to meet the challenge. As a result of improved storage technology, the losses in Government Warehouses could be reduced to minimum but at farmers’ level, where 60-70 per cent of the produce is retained, the losses are still too high.

The management of insects in stored products is in transition from a dependence on regular applications of chemical insecticides to the use of integrated pest management (IPM). IPM involves understanding interactions between stored product environment and insects associated with stored products, and replacing all or most of the chemical applications with cost effective non chemical alternatives. The increased emphasis in adopting IPM strategies for stored product insects is primarily due to consumers’ demand for food free from pesticide residues. The transition from a heavy reliance on chemicals to little or no chemical input and increased use of non chemical approaches requires a thorough understanding of stored product insects, their identification, monitoring, biology, ecology and response to chemical and non chemical management options. The current scenario of stored grain protection in India depends totally and judicious use of IPM strategies. For safe storage of food grains, both the preventive and curative measures are required:

9.1 Introduction

Cereal crops are of global importance and the lifeline of the human civilization. The four most important cereals grown for human food in the tropics are rice, maize, sorghum and pearl millet. There are other minor cereals of tropical origin which are of local importance in the tropics. These include finger millet (Eleusine coracana), a staple food in parts of East and Central Africa; barnyard millet (Echinochloa frumentacea), cultivated in India and Southeast Asia; foxtail millet (Setaria italica), grown in parts of India; and teff (Eragrostis tef), which is confined to the Ethiopian highlands. The winter cereals wheat and barley are also grown to a limited extent in the tropics, largely at high altitudes: for example, wheat in Kenya and barley in Ethiopia. Wheat and barley are important crops in the Indian subcontinent, and are grown there in the cool season at low altitudes, but the bulk of the crop area lies outside the tropics.

11.1 Introduction

Tropical Root and Tuber Crops serve as primary or secondary staple to meet the calorie needs of one fifth of world’s population. These crops have myriad and complex roles to play in the food security and reduction of hunger and elimination of poverty. The starch content, pharmaceutical and nutraceutical value endow these crops with an extra ordinary range of potential and uses. Root and tuber crops are also greater sources of industrial raw materials for biodiesel and starch derived materials.

8.1 Introduction

Vegetables are cultivated over an area of about 19 million ha globally, with an annual production of 268 million tonnes; Asia and Africa account for more than 90% of the hectarage and production (FAO, 2011). Vegetable crops contribute to human and environmental health. Most vegetables can supply plant proteins, vitamins (especially vitamins A and C), folic acid, minerals such as iron and calcium, and dietary fiber to the human diet (Fowler, 2011). Vegetable legumes also fix atmospheric nitrogen in the soil, thus improving soil fertility. Their haulms can be used as high quality livestock fodder. Most vegetables are high-value, repeat-cycle crops that can help lift small-scale farmers out of poverty in developing tropical countries (Genova et al., 2010). However, vegetable production is often constrained by several severe biotic- and abiotic factors that reduce yields and profits.

Introduction

India ranks second in the production of vegetables after China. The existing area under vegetable cultivation in India is around 4.5 million ha. There is a need of around 5-6 million tons of food to feed 1.3 billion India’s population by 2020 AD. The major constraint in vegetable production, include the extensive crop losses due to increased pest infestations directly or due to viral diseases vectored by insects. The extent of crop losses in vegetables varies with the plant type, location, damage potential of the pest involved and cropping season. Vegetables are more prone to insect pests and diseases mainly due to their succulence as compared to other crops. The crop losses to the tune of 40 per cent have been observed in vegetable crops. The increased demand and limited productivity of local cultivars, led to introduction of high yielding varieties and hybrids. As a result, dramatic changes in pest scenario occurred like minor pests assuming major status (eg., Serpentine leaf miner, Liriomyza trifolii a serious problem in tomato hybrids). Chemical pesticides are the sole panacea to mange the pest by vegetable farmers even today. Indiscriminate use of pesticides has led to severe ecological consequences like destruction of natural enemy fauna, effect on non-target organisms, pesticide residues in vegetables and resistance of the pest to pesticides. The modern pest management is aimed at educating the farmers on various issues of pest management like identification of the pests, natural enemies, judicious use of pesticides with alternate methods of pest control like cultural, mechanical, biological and behavioral (pheromones) management.

Introduction

Vegetables contain large quantities of minerals, vitamins and essentials amino acids required for normal functioning of human metabolic processes and plays an important role in food and nutritional security. India is the second largest vegetables producing countries next to China and occupies 7.981 million ha area with an annual production of 129.077 million tons (Anonymous, 2009). Due to expanding urbanization and deforestation, most of the natural resources are depleting and shrinking with a rapid pace. With the limited land and depleting water resources, India has to feed the burgeoning population without destroying the ecological balances. In this context, we must have to look after the vertical expansion through increase in the intensity, diversification, mixed and intercropping of vegetable crops. Besides this, vegetables are also more prone to insect pests and diseases mainly due to their tenderness and softness as compared to other crops.

INTRODUCTION

Phytophagous mites have long been considered as potentially serious pests of a wide range of food and fibre crops, and ornamentals. They are covered under subclass Acari of class Arachnida and phylum Arthropoda. Mites unlike insects are 8-legged creatures and lack compound eyes, antennae and wings. Plant feeding mites measure from 200µ to 600µ. Majority of the plant feeding mites belong to suborder Prostigmata, and phytophagous mites belong to family Tetranychidae (spider mites); Eriophyidae (bud or gall mites) ; Tenuipalpidae (false spider mites); Tarsonemidae (broad mites) and Tuckerellidae, in the decreasing order of their importance. Before one can develop integrated management of phytophagous mites in different agri-horticultural ecosystems, knowledge about the following fundamentals of phytophagous mite management principles is a big must.

Introduction

Integrated Pest Management (IPM) has evolved over the last five decades since Stern et al. (1959) first gave the concept of integrated control. The basic tactics of IPM were developed and applied to reduce crop losses against the ravages of pests before the term IPM was coined (Jones, 1973; Smith et al.,1973). Entomologist at the university of California, United State of America (USA) played a pivotal role in developing IPM tactics (Perkins, 1982). Development of resistance to insecticides and the elimination of natural enemies by insecticides led to the development of ‘supervised control’. The publication of the book ‘Silent Spring’ written by Rachel Carson (1962) was a defining milestone for it brought the problems caused by pesticides to the attention of the public and the scientists. The term ‘integrated pest management’ was used for the first time by Smith and van dan Bosch (1967). In the last five decade many synthetic pesticides have been banned. In 1972, ’integrated pest management’ and its synonym were incorporated into English dictionary and accepted by the scientific community (Kogan, 1998). IPM is the main strategy accepted for pest management under agenda 21 of the United Nations conference on Environment and Development (UNCED, 1992).

Weeds pose serious problems to agriculture and environment. Weeds are plants that are undesirable to human activity at a particular time and place, and therefore, weeds will always be associated with human endeavours. In agriculture these not only cause huge reductions in crop yields but also increase cost of cultivation, reduce input efficiency, interfere with agricultural operations, impair quality, act as alternate hosts for several insect pests, diseases and nematodes. In non-crop areas, they affect aesthetic look of the ecosystem as well as native biodiversity and health and quality of life. Weeds are a big constraint in crop production and are responsible for heavy yield losses in almost all the crops. “Being fore-warned is fore-armed” is the principle behind preparation of perspective plans. Weeds are big constraints in crop production and are responsible for heavy yield losses in all crops. Out of the losses due to various biotic stresses, weeds are known to account for nearly one third. Proper management of weeds is essential to meet the growing demand of foodgrains, pulses, oilseeds and other crops by the ever increasing population. As per the projections of IFPRI, Washington there is a likelihood of shortfall of 41 per cent in the food grain production in the country by 2020.

Early and accurate crop-disease diagnosis is essential for preventing production losses and reducing unnecessary pesticide use. Manual diagnosis can be slow, subjective and difficult to apply across large agricultural areas. This chapter introduces computational approaches using artificial neural networks, fuzzy logic, support vector machines, deep learning and hybrid optimization models. It discusses image acquisition, preprocessing, feature extraction, pattern recognition and classification of disease symptoms from leaves, crop canopies and sensor data. Integration with precision-agriculture systems, mobile advisory applications and real-time monitoring enables timely intervention. Challenges involving data quality, field variability, model interpretation and large-scale deployment are examined through practical examples and case studies.

Computational crop-disease detection uses machine learning, neural networks and image-processing techniques to provide timely and accurate diagnoses. This chapter presents a complete framework covering agricultural intelligence, disease categories, image acquisition, preprocessing, model training and classification. It examines datasets collected in fields or through drones and considers deployment through mobile devices, cloud platforms and other digital systems. Evaluation measures are introduced for assessing model accuracy and reliability. The chapter also considers limitations caused by insufficient or poor-quality data and variation in field conditions. Future directions include multimodal data integration and explainable models that provide transparent recommendations for sustainable crop protection and improved food security.

Introduction

Biological control of plant pathogens is currently accepted as a key practice in sustainable agriculture. Plant parasitic nematodes and mycorrhizal fungi are commonly found inhabiting the same soil and colonizing roots of their host plants. These two groups of microorganisms exert a characteristics, but opposite effect on plant health. The potential role of mycorrhizal fungi as biocontrol agent for the control of nematode plant diseases has recently received considerable attention. The literature on the various aspects of VAM research such as interaction of VAM- mycorrhizal fungi with nematode pathogens (Sikora, 1995, Pinochet et al. 1996), biotechnology and future of VAM commercialization (Wood and Cumming, 1992) and trends in mycorrhizal research (Sahay et al. 1998) has been reviewed. The damage due to nematodes diseases is generally decreased in mycorrhizal fungi has shown an antagonistic influence on the population of plant parasitic nematodes (Nagesh et al. 1999, Kantharaju et al.

The Internet of Things supports continuous monitoring of soil, crops, weather and other field conditions through distributed sensors and connected devices. This chapter proposes an edge-cloud architecture designed to address scalability, heterogeneous data, communication latency and energy requirements. Edge nodes conduct local processing and anomaly detection, while cloud platforms provide storage and run advanced machine-learning models. Applications include crop-status evaluation, irrigation scheduling, pest and disease detection and yield forecasting. Explainable artificial intelligence improves transparency by helping users understand model recommendations. The integrated architecture can reduce response time compared with conventional centralized systems and provides a foundation for scalable, efficient and responsive next-generation smart-farming operations.

Apiculture, or beekeeping, is a key contributor to the development of sustainable and eco-conscious farming systems. In the context of natural farming, where synthetic inputs are avoided, bees serve a dual purpose—as vital pollinators and as indicators of ecological well-being. Incorporating bees into such farming systems improves crop yields through efficient pollination and offers an additional source of income from honey and other hive-based products.

Natural farming promotes the peaceful coexistence of all living beings. Bees, as crucial players in preserving biodiversity and ecological balance, embody this principle. In contrast to conventional beekeeping, which may depend on artificial feeding, chemical treatments, and synthetic hives, natural beekeeping uses traditional, minimal-intervention practices that respect the bees’ natural instincts and life cycles. This ethical model emphasizes care for the colony over intensive honey harvesting or manipulation of the queen bee.

Computational intelligence is enabling agriculture to evolve into a data-driven, adaptive and increasingly autonomous system. This chapter introduces its concepts, scope and role in smart agriculture by presenting farms as interconnected cyber-physical-biological environments. It discusses artificial intelligence, data analytics and decision-support systems and explains the progression from traditional farming to precision and smart agriculture. IoT, remote sensing, cloud platforms and digital agricultural ecosystems are examined as enabling technologies. The chapter also considers socioeconomic, environmental and scalability challenges. It establishes the conceptual and architectural foundation required to understand how computational intelligence can improve productivity, sustainability, resilience and decision-making in next-generation agricultural systems.

Of late, there has been a growing trend for individuals and companies to “Go Green” or be more environmentally friendly. There has also been a opinion that natural and organic products are healthier or safer. The pest control industry has responded to these changes in our culture and business markets with innovations in products, materials, and methods. Requests for “organic” based services have grown to a point where most pest control providers offer services that use only natural pesticides.

Introduction

Regenerative agriculture is both a philosophy and a strategy for land management. It asks us to consider how all aspects of agriculture are connected through a web, which is a network of entities that grow, enhance exchange, and distribute, consumer products and services. Traditionally, supply chains have been organized linearly. It is about farming and ranching in a way that nourishes people as well as the earth, with specific practices differing from grower to grower and from region to region. This style of farming and ranching is also known as “permaculture.” Although there is no definitive rule book, the holistic principles that underpin the dynamic system of regenerative agriculture are designed to address issues of inequity, reestablish the health of soil and ecosystems, and ensure that our land, waters, and climate are in better condition for future generations. It is a novel concept of uplifting the natural world rather than imposing an invasive control, regenerative agriculture intriguing environmental approach to agricultural production that enables the natural systems to renew themselves. Regenerative agriculture refers to farming practices that, in comparison to industrial agriculture, cause significantly less damage to the surrounding environment and the soil. When we give more to nature than what we receive from it, we bring nature closer to us and bring ourselves closer to nature at the same time. Farming that is in harmony with both the surrounding environment and the community fosters a feeling of integrity and togetherness that helps to strengthen the connection between the two. The concept of harmonious farming can be summed up in a few words: It involves engaging in agricultural practices and cropping systems that increase soil fertility return nutrients to the soil, increase soil water retention, remove carbon dioxide (CO2 ) from the atmosphere, and, most importantly, adapt to the ecosystems in which they are grown.

1.1 Introduction

The human population is growing rapidly at an alarming rate, disproportionately to the production of food supplies, which will necessitate production of more food in the near future. The human population has already crossed the 7 billion mark and is expected to rise over 8-10 billion by 21st century. More than 800 million people are reported to suffer from malnutrition (Matson et al., 1997).  Thereby necessitating the need for more food production. Presently, agriculture faces the double challenge of feeding a fast growing population and at the same time prevents the degradation of the agricultural resource base. There appear to be two options for developing countries; either to improve agriculture through modernization, by emphasizing pesticides, fertilizers, machinery and modern varieties of crops; or use sustainable agriculture, promoting improved traditional, small-scale techniques (Pretty, 1999).

History of Chemical Control, Insecticide Toxicology and Properties

History of pest control probably started when the first person swatted a mosquito or pulled off a tick, the battle for the control of our planet didn’t start until organized agriculture, when pests attacked the plants, and we grew to eat and threatened our very survival.

A pesticide is any substance or mixture of substances used to stop, kill, avoid, or lessen the effects of a pest (insects, mites, nematodes, weeds, rats, etc.). This includes insecticide, herbicide, fungicide, and many other substances used to control pests. Pesticide was defined in different ways at different times and in different places. But pesticide is still generally the same: it is a (mixed) substance that is poisonous and effective on target organisms but safe for non-target organisms and environments.

Chemical control, commonly known as pest control, is the use of chemicals to reduce insect populations. Herbicides, fungicides, insecticides, rodenticides, acaricides, nematodes, and fungicides are all examples of pesticides. Insecticides are a class of chemicals used to combat insect pests. A substance or combination of compounds used to kill, repel, or otherwise prevent insects is called an insecticide. When it comes to controlling pests, insecticides are most powerful tools available for management. They have a wide range of positive effects, including high efficiency, speed of healing, general applicability, adaptability to different settings, adaptability to shifting agronomic and ecological conditions, and low cost. When insect pest numbers approach or surpass the economic threshold, insecticides are the sole viable instrument for emergency action in pest management. The usage of pesticides, a widely used method, can be central to such a system. The use of chemical pesticides will remain pivotal in these initiatives. In many cases, chemical control of pests is the best option available. Some people’s view of pesticide use for pest management as an ecological sin is incorrect. Chemical pesticides are a reliable and useful tool for the biologist, so long as they are used in accordance with good ecological principles.

Part A

1. Pesticides

A pesticideis defined as anysubstance intended for preventing, destroying, attracting, repelling or controlling pests including unwanted species of plant, or animals duringthe production, storage,transportation, distributionand processing of the food, agricultural commodities or animal's feed or which may be administered to the animals for the control of ectoparasites. Pesticides include insecticides, herbicides, fungicides, acaricides, nematicides, etc.

According to food and agricultural organization (FAO) 1986, the term pesticidehas been defined as“any substance or mixture of substances intended for preventing or controlling any pest and includes anysubstance or mixture of substances intended for use as plant growth regulator (PGR), defoliant or desiccant. The term excludes fertilizers and antibiotics or other chemicals administered to animals to stimulate their growth or to modify their reproductive behaviour”. Pesticides are the largest group of poisonous substances that are widely broadcast today.