Insect ecology: Scope and definition. Population dynamics. Life tables. Inter specific and intra
specific relations. Balance of life in nature. Pest-definition and categories. Pest monitoring and
surveillance. Assessment of pest population and damage. Integrated Pest Management: Principles
of IPM, concept of economic threshold and economic injury levels, tools of IPM - advantages and
disadvantages. Basic concept of host plant resistance. Biocontrol of pests and weeds: concepts,
advantages and disadvantages. Microbial control. Regulatory control, plant quarantine and
phytosanitory certificate.
Pesticides: Insecticide act and rules. Insecticides – classification, mode of action and formulations
- advantages and limitations - mammalian toxicity and environmental pollution. Insecticide
appliances. Newer trends in insect pest management – pheromones, Insect Growth Regulators,
Chitin synthesis Inhibitors, biotechnological methods.