Pesticides

Pesticides
Pesticides are the compounds
used to kill or control pests.
Common pests are
o Rodents
o Insects
o Fungi
&
o Plant weeds
 The pesticides are classified as
(i) General pesticides
(ii) Restricted pesticides
General pesticide can be used by the
common public according to the
direction given on the label.
The restricted pesticide can be
handled only by trained peoples
and with certified applicators.
According to Federal Environmental
Pesticide Control Act, before the
registration of any pesticide the
manufacturer must present scientific data
not only about the efficacy of the
product but also about its safety towards
 Human being
 Crops
 General environment &
 It does not result in residue on food
with poisonous effects.
Characters of an ideal pesticides
Characters of an ideal pesticides
 Should stay at the side of
application through out its active period
 Toxic to a particular part but harm
less to other organism including
hummans
 Easy to use
 Economical
 Able to breakdown into harmless
product in the general environment
with in a reasonable time.
Advantages of Pesticides
Advantages of Pesticides
1) Pesticides are the most powerful tools
of pest control because they are
 Convenient
 Simple
 Highly effective
 Relatively economical
&
 Adoptable to most situation.
2) Pesticides are the only practical
measure for control of pest population
reaching the economical threshold level.
3) Pesticides have rapid curative action in
preventing economic damages. Their
lethal action is rapid i.e.
with in few minutes to hours or a day or
two . Thus prevent heavy damages.
4) Pesticides offer a wide range of
properties, uses and method of
application. They can be use in the
form of short-lived contact poison
or long acting systemic poisons

5) Pesticides are economical as

compaired to other methods.
Disadvantage of Pesticides
Disadvantage of Pesticides

1) Need of Reapplication:
Application of the pesticides can not
permanently lower the pest
population to a level that is not
problem creating.
Hence re-application is necessary
at regular interval.
2) Effect on Non Targeted Organism:
Pesticides affect the biological
processes of many living organism,
apart from the targeted species and
organism e.g. birds
3) Problem of Residue: Many (Insecticides)
pesticides has a residue in earthly and
aquatic biota. Residue may have
adverse effects on ecosystem by
creating disequilibrium in food chain.
4) Development of Resistance:
When a pesticide is used regularly to
to control a pest, resistance to the
pesticide may develop.
PESTS REQUIRING CONTROLL
 PESTS
Animal Plant
Rodents Fungi
Arthopods Weeds
 Rodents
Rodents are mammals such as Rats, Mouse & Rabbits.
Rodents also responsible for a disease
such as
 Rat bite fever.
Large number of lice's of rat origin
transmitted diseases like
 Thypus fever
&
 Rat leprosy.
Rats also infest ticks and mites(blood
sucking parasites) which then causes
 Rocky mountain spotted fever.
(rickettsial illness)
 Undulant fever (reoccurring
attack of fever with mental
confusion).
If it is not controlled properly these
disease lead to epidemics.
Rocky mountain
spotted fever
Arthropods
These include
 Insects
 Spiders
 Ticks
 Mites
 Lice's
Some Spp. of ticks, mites and lice's are
ecto parasite ( parasite on the external
surface on human body)
Insects is the most important class
of the Arthopods.
Morphologically it can be divided
in to
A. Biting and chewing insects:
B. Piercing and sucking insects
Biting and chewing insects………..
 Biting and chewing insects
o Tomato horn worms
o Corn ear worms
o Grass hoppers
o Locusts etc
 Piercing and sucking insects:
The piercing &sucking insects have
their modified mouth parts & thus
penetrate the epidermal tissues of
plant organs and suck juices from soft
tissues of plants
o Aphid (plant lice's)
o Chinch bugs
o Squash bugs
o Cabbage bugs etc
House hold insects belong to both
groups e.g.
 Cockroaches, termites, silver fish ,
clothes moths and carpet beetles have
chewing jaws
 While flies, bed bugs and
mosquitoes possess a piercing and
sucking mechanism
FUNGI
Plant diseases such as
 Wheat rust,
 White pine blister rust,
&
 Duch elm disease are due to the fungal
attack.
Other type of fungal disease are
 Black berries leaf rust
 Rasp berries leaf rust
 Asparagus rust
 Rose rust etc
 For control of fungal attack , the
seeds should be freed of adhering
fungal spores before plantation.
 This is done by treating the seeds
with suitable fungicide such as
thiuram.
 Young plants are sprayed by
fungicide.
WEEDS
 A weed is simply defined as an
undesirable plant.
 So any plant which grows out of its
place is a weed
 Weeds are the plants which grows
where they are not wanted.
The undesirable plants in a garden
tends to
 Choke out (prevent growth or
suffocate) the cultivated plants.
 Consume much of the available
food and water content of the soil.
 The crop is affected by the weeds
and grains produced are not of
quality.
 The controlling of weeds in
the growing crops with weedicid
increase the yields and ensures
the efficient use of irrigation,
fertilizers and plant protection
measures.
 Some of the weeds are dangerous and
contain cyanophore type of
glycosides e.g. Corn cockle and its
contamination may causes death.
 Some weeds causes contact dermatitis
i.e Toxicodendran radican.
 There are other weeds whose fruit and
seeds are poisonous when swallowed
e.g. Datura stramonium.
 Some weeds produce hay fever e.g.
Rag weeds
METHODS FOR CONTROL OF PESTS
Methods For Control Of Pests
The important methods for control of
pests are

(i) Mechanical Methods

(ii) Biological Methods
(iii) Environmental Methods
(iv) Agricultural Methods
(v) Chemical Methods
Mechanical Methods:
It includes
 Hand picking
 Pruning (cutting)
 Burning &
 Trapping
Large cater pillars can easily located and
removed by hands e.g.
Tomatto harn worm is a large green
attractive larva , can easily be picked by
hands .
Mechanical Methods also includes
 To keep away the insects from plants.
Many flying insects (butterflies, flies,
capsids, thrips etc) can be keep away
from crop with the help of insect netting.
 Similarly humans can also be protected
from mosquitoes by netting.
 By covering the substrate with
polythene or cloths.
Biological Methods
Biological Methods:
This method is used for the control of
animal pests. For this purpose we have
two considerations

 Animal or insect , which eat the

smaller ones
 Insect which have the short life cycle
and parasites the larger insect .
Both Methods have considerable merits
provided that the predators or parasitic
forms do not become so numerous that
they themselves become pests e.g.
 Rabbits are used to utilized weeds as
their food .
When weeds are exhausted they start
enjoying crop and garden plants.
 Cats , owls and hawks are natural
enemies of mice.
 Birds constantly feed on insects.
 Certain flies and wasps lay eggs in
or the bodies of large destructive
insects , usually on slow moving
larvae.
 These eggs when converted in to small
larva , will start consuming the body
tissue of the large insect & destroy
them .Upon the death of large insect, the
small larva's are converted in to adult
flies & begin to cycle once again.
 The insect used to control
agricultural pest in this manner is
known as
Entomophagous insect
Environmental Methods
Environmental Methods:
In these method we change the
condition surrounding the
pest either by
 Removing the food supply or
 By hindering the complication
in his life cycle.
 Solarisation
Solarisation:
The soil is covered with transparent
polythene for several weeks in
summer, temperature can rise to high
through solar radiation that pest
organisms are killed
Agricultural Methods
Agricultural Methods:
 Resistant spp or distasteful
 Crop rotation
 With held the cultivation of chief
food source
 Deep plowing
 some books also included the
Systemic insecticides
Chemical Methods:
The chemical used to control pests are
(i) Rodenticides: Against rates , mice,
moles & other rodents
(ii) Insecticides: Against various insects
and some arthropods.
(iii) Herbicides: Against weeds and
undesirable plants.
(iv) Fungicides: Against all type of
fungi.
Chemical agents are used as
 Poison baits
 Spraying solutions and
suspension.
 Aerosols
 Fumigants
 Stomach poison
 Repellents etc