Pest:
Any living organism that causes harm to man, his crops or animals or possession or simply cause annoyance to human being, qualifies to refer as pest
Pest Management:
It is the system in the context of associated environment & population dynamics of the pest, utilizes all possible techniques or practices to maintain the pest population that will not cause economic damage or losses. Pests will be dealt in respect with the following points.
Nomenclature: (Taxonomic Position):
Every living organisms are known by common name and scientific name. Particular insects are known by common name in certain area / locality & not all over the world. They are recognized in scientific community by scientific names which consist of two names, viz. Earias vitella the first name indicates genera & the second specify the species mime. This system of nomenclature is called as binomial system of nomenclature. Similarly, trinomial system of naming is in existence for some insects where in three names are given e.g.
Pyrilla perpusilla coimbatorensis
Pyrilla perpusilla pusana
Marks of Identification:
Description of different developmental stages for e.g. shoot fly egg, larva, pupa & adult is important for correct identification of pest.
Hosts:
These are the plants on which insect use lo feed upon for completion of its life cycle. When main host is not available insect can feed on other hosts for survival is called alternate hosts.
Life history:
Means the development of insect for instance in most of the insects development take place from egg to adult stages, e.g. Jowar shoot fly. The object to study the life history is to find out certain weak points of the insects viz. site of pupalation, carry over from one season to next, habit & habitat of pest. These are to be pointed out for deciding the control strategies of the pests.
Nature of damage:
There is hardly any plant which is not infested by the pest. Pests injure to host plants. They damage one or the other parts of the plant viz. roots (root feeders), Stem / shoot (stem borers) leaves (leaf feeders), buds, flowers, fruits (fruit borers) & grains also. Depending upon feeding habit, pests are categorized as sucking pests & chewing pests. Accordingly the symptoms are produced on damaged plant parts.
Management of the Pest:
While managing the pest there should be an integrated pest management (IPM) approach in order to keep pest population below a level of economically acceptable damage (ETL)