The use of botanicals and bio-intensive integrated pest management in organic agriculture is due to the fact that they are considered relatively environment friendly beneficial insects are less likely to be killed as the case in synthetic pesticide usage.
Botanicals are natural plant products/extracts used in pest control while the bio-intensive integrated pest management relies on a range of preventive tactics and biological control to keep pest populations within acceptable limits.
The use of botanicals is advantageous as it degrades more rapidly than chemical pesticides although cost of production and high frequency of application make s the practice expensive.
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Botanicals: Definition, Examples, Use in Pest Control
Botanicals are natural plant products used in pest control. Their use in organic agriculture is due to the fact that it degrades more rapidly than most chemical pesticides and are therefore considered relatively environment friendly, it is less likely to kill beneficial insects than synthetic pesticides with longer environmental retention.
The use of botanicals is however more expensive than conventional pesticides because of high cost of production and frequent application given its ability to degrade within a very short time.
Examples of plants that possess pesticidal properties include: Pyrethrum, neem, rotenone, Artemisia sp, Hyptis sp, Garlic etc.
There are different types of bio pesticide extracts some of which include:
1. Essential oils: these are oils extracted mainly from aromatic plants. They have repellent, insecticidal, anti-feedants, growth inhibitors, oviposition inhibitors, ovicides and growth reducing effects on a variety of insects.
2. Alkaloid: these are natural substances that act as pesticides through their insecticidal, larvicidal and anti-feedant activities e.g. pyridine alkaloids extracted from Ruta chalepensis leaves has larvicidal effects on Spodoptera littoralis.
3. Flavonoids: plant extracts effective against feeding insects and herbivores. They offer protection to plants by influencing insect behavior, growth and development. e.g flavonoids from Tephrosia purpuria showed insecticidal properties on Callosobruchus maculatus grubs.
4. Glycosides: these express insect growth inhibitory activities and are also effective against storage insect pest as fumigants.
Esters and fatty acids: they have larvicidal, insecticidal and repelling effects on pest
The modes of action of the bio-pesticides listed above are:
1. Repellants: act by keeping insect pest away and thus protecting the crop
2. Feeding deterrents/anti-feedants: they inhibit feeding or disrupt insect feeding by rendering the treated materials unattractive or unpalatable.
3. Toxicity: these are toxic and cause death of pest when ingested (stomach poison). Toxic biopesticides can act as fumigants.
4. Growth retardants and development inhibitors: these show deleterious effects on the growth and development of insects, reducing the weight of larva, pupa and adult stages and lengthening the developmental stages. It can also act by reducing the survival rates of larvae and pupa as well as adult emergence.
5. Sterility/reproduction inhibitors: this acts by interfering with the reproductive potential of sexually reproducing organisms leading to temporal or permanent sterility. The effect of this bio pesticide can also be expressed by preventing maturation of the young to a sexually functional adult stage
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Bio-intensive Integrated Pest Management
This refers to pest prevention through natural, non chemical means. Besides the use of pesticides, other means of control such as crop rotation, introduction of native predators of pest, introduction of sterile males or reintroduction of natural, disease-fighting microbes into plants or soil.
Additionally, pest management is based on an understanding of the pest ecology by, accurately diagnosing the nature and source of pest problems, and then relies on a range of preventive tactics and biological control to keep pest populations within acceptable limits.
This practice of pest control is beneficial because there is reduced chemical input cost, reduced on-farm and off-farm environmental impacts and more effective and sustainable pest management.
In conclusion, Pest control in organic systems is basically achieved through the use of botanicals and bio- intensive integrated pest management systems as they have been proven to be sustainable and have no negative environmental impacts.
Botanicals are insecticides naturally occurring chemicals extracted or derived from plants sources e.g. neem, garlic, Artemisia, Hyptis etc.
These plants contain chemicals such as flavonoids, alkaloids, glycosides, they act as repellants, anti feedants, growth retardants, reproduction inhibitors etc.
Bio-intensive integrated pest management is a pest management strategy which seeks to understand the pest ecology and ensures it remains.
