 Hi, we will continue our discussion on eco-friendly methods of best management. Coming to again different methods of eco-friendly approach, you know we studied so far many of the tactics. Now we will concentrate more on some of the improved methods of eco-friendly approach. In that you know we have one mulching, another one of recent version is push and pulley polycropping you know in case of mulching what happens I mean we cover the soil with the help of either plastics or sawdust or straw or even simple rice husk mainly to prevent the insect locating the host crop not necessarily the host crop any host plant even it may be a weed. So because of the options of any of the plant the insect population will not get the host to feed thereby the population death is seen. In addition to that you know because of covering of this the temperature below the crop canopy either below the rice husk or below the plastic the temperature increases that increase in temperature also brings down these insect stages mortality. So these are the advantages of mulches which are normally used in poly houses green house situation for bringing down the insect population. Then another new innovative technology is push pull polycropping a simple way of explaining push pull polycropping is just similar to the analogy of push pull train you know one engine will be pulling the train from the front another engine will be pushing from the back. So which we normally call it as push pull train the same analogy has been used as an eco-friendly device in reducing the pest population. If you see the combination of behavior modifying stimuli to manipulate the distribution and abundance of pest are the beneficial insects in pest management with the ultimate goal of pest reduction on the protected host this is the objective of push pull polycropping. This can be better explained with a simple example you know I have a situation here corn which is one of the important crop corn you know is very severely attacked in the early stage by stem borer. So this can be prevented by planting an anti-fident crop like desmodium because it produces some chemical stimuli which will not allow the adult stem borer to come and lay eggs on the corn because of these anti-fident chemical stimuli. So the female goes away from the corn plant and goes nearer to the crop like napier grass which is first of all a trap crop which is highly preferred by the corn stem borer and not only for attack even for egg laying also the female prefers the napier grass. So thereby what happens here the main crop you know there will be pushing of the adult stem borer to go to napier grass for egg laying and also as a trap crop this will be pulling the adult female for attracting the female for egg laying. So thereby the main crop maize is totally prevented by the insect egg laying and ultimately reduces the economic damage. So in such situations have been identified in many ecosystems and this technology is used as a very simple eco-friendly device in reducing the pest population. Then coming back to some of the other methodologies still we have a very simple one you know crop rotation, plant nutrition, water management, sanitation, closed season these are all agronomic practices followed by the farmers in the crop production tactics. But they have a direct bearing on the insect population we will try to understand with classic example for each case. In case of crop rotation you know it is very simple a host crop is alternated with a non host crop for a particular insect species for example sorghum. Sorghum is attacked by sorghum suit fly in almost all the sorghum growing areas. If you alternate with a other non host crop like Bengal gram the suit fly does not go to Bengal gram so thereby the suit fly will not get any other host for complete one season say for about six months. So automatically the survival rate of the sorghum suit fly gets reduced. So this is how the crop rotation comes in the way and then particularly this technology is useful for a narrow host range that means insects having a very limited host. It is not useful for a polyfagus pest like Heliothis like spodoptera no it can feed on any other host crop. It works very well for a narrow host range crops then say in case of cotton and ground net alternation is very well suited for reducing the pest population both on cotton as well as on ground net. And then ground net and any other non leguminous crops is again very well suited in reducing the pest population both on ground net as well as a non leguminous crops that we select. Then moving on to another agronomic practice plant nutrition. You know nutrition status of any plant helps in overcoming the incidence of the insect population gives a strength to the plant to withstand the insect damage that is why nutrition plays a major role. If you see the organic manure rich in essential nutrients induces tolerance because some of the micronutrients which are not available in chemical fertilizers the plant gets that induces a short of strength to the plant so that the plant can withstand the damage caused by the insect therefore there will be a reduction in the population. And then another case is slowly of nitrogen from organic manure again induces resistance to the plant because organic manure produces lot of anti genosis property lot of hairy products develop on the plant which will not allow the egg to deposit on the plant system. So these are all eco friendly devices which can reduce the population considerably. Go to the next one water management water is required for a for almost all the crops for higher yields but the management of using water plays a major role once again in influencing the insect population for example some of the insects they hide during daytime in the soil but the same insect immediately after dusk they come out and then feed on the plant parts on the reproductive parts of the plant for example insects like cutworm insects like army worm insects like root grub they always feed during night time. So in the morning if you flood the field for about 4 to 5 hours with irrigation water all those insect stages will be suffocated and resulting in death of the insect population anyway we need irrigation but making the water to stand in the field for about 4 to 5 hours you will be bringing down some of the population which are hiding in the soil that is the concept and then technique called overhead irrigation you know sprinkler irrigation and drip irrigation these are some of the new technologies used in water management but not only saving the water they also have a direct influence on the reduction of pest population I have a classic example in this photograph you know the particularly the sprinkler irrigation has been found to be effective in suppressing major of the foliage feeding insects in case of potato in case of cabbage particularly from diamond back moth attack because overhead irrigation through sprinkler irrigation washes out the egg population which are there on the upper side of the leaf. So that is a very classic example so that is why every some of our ancestors say a good rain washes out majority of the population wherein the dry weather with the cloudy humid nature increases the population the reason is water washes out the insect stages very effectively. So this is one of the eco friendly technology that we have then sanitation or the clean cultivation which is one of the important thing in reducing the pest population if you just see here clean cultivation is old practice of taking out the last year stubbles the main reason is the last season stubbles or last year stubbles contain the hibernating or the resting stages of the insect larvae the over winter there thereby the pest is carried forward to the next season if you destroy these old stubbles you will be killing the over wintering larval population significantly then removal of cotton stalks from the last season they also inhibit lot of pink bullworm. So destruction of this in fact one of the act was passed long back of destroying the cotton stalks mainly to reduce the pink bullworm damage then removal of alternate hose as I already discussed this helicoverpa itself survives in the off season on lagusca weed we may have to reduce by clean cultivation the removal of these alternate hose thereby the population can be reduced and then the removal of stalks and stubbles particularly in case of sorghum you know the suit fly the stem borer stages will inhibit in these stubbles again clean cultivation comes in the way of reducing the pest population closed season this is again an important eco friendly technology closed season is almost a crop holiday if you give a crop holiday for a particular pest say for example paddy in the country paddy is cultivated almost three crops the pest population gets an occasion to multiply on all these crops if you give an holiday if you take out summer paddy crop there will be a breakage of the crop the host will not be available for the insect to multiply and automatically in the next ensuing season there will be reduction in the pest population and particularly in case of sugarcane woolly aphid this is working very well in if you remove the one season sugarcane crop this particular pest can be reduced considerably and particularly in case of monophagus pest this closing of the season works very well because it is a single host the insect attacks these are some of the important eco friendly techniques which play a major role in reducing the pest population.