INSECTIGATION AS AN APPROACH TO INSECTICIDE APPLICATION

Abstract

The burgeoning human population requires raising food production and in order to meet the requirements, factors affecting yields viz. insects, pathogens, nematodes are necessary to be managed. Though the conventional methods of crop protection chemicals application is the major practice, the knowledge and awareness of novel methods play a major role in combating the target pest effectively and one such method is application of insecticides through drip irrigation system, termed as insectigation. This method predominantly used to control the sucking pests, soil residing insects and different stages of insects viz, egg, larvae, pupae and adult that requires soil for development. The approach seems to be more advantageous over traditional spraying enabling plants to absorb water and insecticide at same period of time along with drift reduction, decrease in residues and in curbing the human exposure to insecticides. The existing drip irrigation system needs certain extra paraphernalia viz. chemical mix tank, an injection system and most importantly, a back-flow prevention device to check the ground water pollution. In a nutshell, insectigation offers a wide range of benefits over other pesticide application methods to mitigate the insect pest population below threshold levels.