 Hi, welcome back to the course on IPM. In the last class, so we actually understood about what is the pest and how the pest can be categorized based on certain factors such as their close association with the host and their extent of distribution and as well as based on the economic injury levels. Now in today's class, let us know about how this pest can be monitored over a cropping period. You know after knowing a pest population, it is quite essential to monitor the pest population in a crop growth period when the population is increasing, when it is decreasing and what are the reasons for the increase or decrease or the fluctuation of such population is quite essential and this actually helps in intervening with the suitable management practices and containing the pest. So what actually I am going to give is giving some of the examples of certain species of the pest, so for which how the monitoring can be done and the quite recently some of the pest which has created a havoc in India. If you look at this slide, so I have highlighted some important pest which have been reported across India, so we will start with the cotton white fly. This cotton white fly in a recent past was found to be in a epidemic form in Punjab and Haryana region and a constant monitoring and watching of this pest has enabled to contain this pest within those two states especially this was found on cotton. Then in the from last year, we started noticing an introduced pest called as a tomato pinworm especially a serious pest on tomato which started its appearance in the Maharashtra region and then started spreading throughout the Karnataka and even to the southern parts of Karnataka and since then, so we have a closer watch over the spread and the extent of damage caused by this pest. Similarly, the papaya mealy bug which was 2-3 years back was quite severe in southern parts of India and because of a constant monitoring, so we could intervene with a good biological control agent and now this pest is under control. Similarly, so the banana skipper which again started somewhere in the southern parts of India and now it is quite fast spreading and there is a constant watch over this. Shurken woolly afe around 10 years back was quite severe in Maharashtra and Karnataka and now this has been effectively managed. So also the cotton mealy bug and as well as the coconut mite. So what it indicates is that for those insect pests which suddenly appear or which are quite regular or sometimes those which are introduced to a new area. So this monitoring or the surveying is of a great help in order to follow their population and then understand their life cycle. So this monitoring can be done through a process called as the pest survey. So what is a pest survey? The pest survey is an official procedure which is continued or conducted over a defined period of time in order to determine the characteristics of a pest population in the sense. So when it is increasing, when it is decreasing and to determine that what pest species is occurring in an area. So this survey and how do you do this survey? The survey can be done by two ways. So one is like there is a rowing survey and the second one is a fixed plot survey. The rowing survey is a one type of survey which can be done over a larger area within a short period of time. In the sense if you would like to know the pest situation irrespective of whatever might be the pest in a larger area then we normally take up a rowing survey. Suppose if you want to look at a quite specific pest in a specific area then we actually rely upon a second method of survey what is called as a fixed plot survey. In the fixed plot survey the assessment of the population or a damage from the pest will be done through a fixed plots of a region where we keep surveying repeatedly in an area over a period of time and then try to assess it. So normally in a crop growth period so this will be done. Now so either in a rowing survey or in the fixed plot survey. So how exactly we are going to do the sampling? The sampling of the insect population or a pest population depends depending upon the type of damage that they are going to cause and whether we are looking at an absolute count of the pest or looking at the damaged plant parts. There are two methods of doing the sampling. So one is the block survey methodology. In this block survey methodology you can see that over an area we are going to select certain blocks of a fixed area say 1 by 1 meter and in that 1 by 1 meter we are going to count the number of plants healthy and the number of plants affected and over that we will take over either as the number of plants affected or the percent plants affected. So in this type of block will be done in a known area say for example 1 hectare area and then we do the survey whereas the second method of survey is called as the point survey. In point survey what happens in an area so we will take the 10 spots or the 20 spots depending upon our requirement randomly and from each spot we will try to look at either a damage or the pest count and then try to record it. So either in a rowing survey or may be in a fixed plot survey so we follow either a block method or the point survey method. Now if we do this type of a survey repeatedly over a period of time then that will be referred as a surveillance so we call it as the pest surveillance. So what is pest surveillance? So the pest surveillance it refers to an official process which collects and records the data on a pest occurrence or its absence through a constant monitoring or a survey or by other procedures. So what are the objectives of the pest surveillance? We through the pest surveillance we know the existing and the new pest species in the sense so the pest which are already existing what is the level of infestation or if there are any new pest which are occurring those area then we will be recording it. Then the second objective is to assess the pest population and the damage at a different crop growth period and to study the influence of a weather parameters on the pest which is quite essential like when the pest population is increasing then we will be knowing that why this population is increasing is it influenced by the abiotic factors like weather parameters or so. In also we will be looking at changing the pest status from minor to major and to assess the natural enemies and their influence on the pest which is quite essential and also an effect of a new cropping pattern and the varieties of the pest. So all these will actually will come into picture when you are actually making a closer watch or surveillance of the pest species. Now there are two major methods of pest surveillance. One is a general surveillance method and another one is a specific surveillance method. So what do you mean by these two? So general surveillance is nothing but the process whereby the information of a particular pest which is of a concern for an area is gathered from many sources wherever it is available and provided for the use by the national plant protection organization. In the sense so the different sources either in a localized area or maybe a regional area by certain institutions where the surveillance data will be taken and it is given to the national plant protection organization. In a specific survey it is a process by which this national plant protection organization will obtain the information on a pest of a concern specific sites in an area over a defined period of time. So that means here the surveillance is restricted to a particular pest species and the data is gathered over this. Now what is the importance of having this monitoring survey and the surveillance? So one great importance or the advantage that we do have here is the pest forecasting. What do you mean by pest forecasting? So the pest forecasting is the forecasting of the incidence or the outbreak of the pest based on the information obtained from the pest surveillance. Through the accumulation of the data of these pest surveillance and integrating that with certain abiotic and the biotic factors so we would be coming out with certain modules which we call it get as a forecasting models based on which we can actually predict the occurrence of these pest. So either in a short term or in a long term so that we should be get ready in containing this pest well in advance. The uses of this pest forecasting it predicting the pest outbreaks which needs the control measures and there is a suitable stage at which the control measure can maximize the protection. So we can actually provide and what is called as an valuable information to the farmer that when exactly the control measure has to be initiated so that it can be maintained with a minimum economic loss. So I explain that there are two types of forecasting we can make out of the data obtained through the pest surveillance either it might be a short term forecasting so which is based on one or two seasons or there might be a long term forecasting based on the weather parameters. Short term forecasting like if you look at in this season if a particular pest has actually reached an higher level and caused a serious damage then assessing the reasons for such outbreaks then if such similar reasons will occur in the next season then we can predict and caution the farmer that this pest is going to come and then cause the damage. In a long term damage or in a long term forecasting so we can actually accumulate the data over a period of time say for about 5 to 10 years with all the weather parameters and the natural enemy data then we can say that so well in advance for a longer time of prediction we can make it but the short term prediction will be quite accurate and advantageous and for a long term prediction we need to have accurate data over a longer period of time. Now the next important thing for this survey and surveillance is that how we are going to sample it so we need to look at the sampling techniques. See for each of these pest species a different sampling methodologies can be employed. We can broadly categorize the sampling techniques into an absolute sampling and the relative sampling. Absolute sampling is counting all the insects which are present either on a plant or in an area and this is actually quite impossible or practically not possible we can say that so we often relay upon the relative plant sampling wherein the relative sampling will includes the measure the pest in terms of some values which can be compared over time and space. So we actually collect the insects in a particular area we will sample it in particular spots and then we will actually count it over a larger area or predict it over a larger area. So the measurement means or the measurements that we employ such as like light trap or they might be a sticky trap or the pheromone traps. So in the coming slides I am going to explain about these things and the method of sampling so how exactly you are going to do it so either there will be an in situ count and where we actually have a closer observation of these pest and then they will count either on the plant canopy or so or we will have a knock down count in the sense through fogging or something so what we do. So we will knock down all the insects present in a plant canopy and then we make an absolute count of it or else we go for a using of the sweeping net and where we periodically sweep the net and collect the insect and then make the count of it. Then the fourth method of collection is the narcotized collection where we are going to put some poison and the kill the insect or so we will collect those insects and then make a count of it. Then trapping is most commonly used method where certain populations of the pest we are going to trap them like using the sticky trap or the pheromone trap or the light trap or some of the bait traps that we use which are quite specific to certain pest and then make a count of these insects. Then the quite essential thing is that when these sampling should be done so the sampling based on the crop growth period or based on the stage of the pest so the sampling can be decided. For instance normally most injurious stage of the insect are counted that means when the insects like most of this leprechaun pest if you know like they are in the immature stages they cause a lot of damage so we normally make a larval count or sometimes we also go for the egg mass count that is well in advance before the pest starts causing the damage or sometimes in certain groups so where both the immature and as well as the adult insects are counted. Then what should be the sample size so the sample size should be decided depending upon the area of the surveying or the nature of the pest. So which differs with the nature of pest and as well as the crop so proper sample size always a higher sample size will gives the accurate result. Then after doing all these things the most important thing is the decision making wherein after assessing the population or the damage of a crop then we are comparing it with the ETL and EAL and if the pest level crosses the ETL then we can actually take a decision of controlling with suitable measures so as to prevent the pest from reaching the EIL. So in this class we understood about the pest surveillance, their methodologies, forecasting and the methods of sampling. So in the coming classes another co-faculty of this course Dr. M. Bhimanna will be explaining about the principles of pest management thank you.