It is very common in agriculture that pests visit the field and damage the crops production which is sometimes very less but sometimes it causes so much damage that it becomes uncompensated loss.
So we should control the pest in the field and we can control them in different ways depending upon the knowledge we have about the pest and how many possible methods we already have to control them.
In general we use different chemicals to control the pests in our crops which really remove the pest from the field and help us to save a lot of economic loss in agriculture. But we also should consider the effect of those chemicals which control the pest on other organisms and as well as on crops.
Sometimes the chemical used in agriculture pest management leaves traces on crops which also enter in different animals who consume them and most of the time the chemical becomes harmful for most of the animals and humans.
The chemicals sometimes remain in surroundings for a long time and cause harmful side effects on different organisms present in our ecosystem. So we have to use alternative ways to control the pest in agriculture so that we become successful to control the pest without harming any other organisms.
Table of Contents
What is Biological Pest Control:
Scientists researched on various pests and they were able to find some organisms who act as enemies for the pest organisms so they can be applied for controlling the pests. We can use biological control to prevent the insect and other pests who damage our crops, and this method is known as biological control and it has now become very popular due to its special benefits.
The organisms used for the biological pest control are known as biological agents and now we are going to discuss different types of biological agents used to control the pests in crops.
Different Types of Biological Agents:
We use specific biological agents for controlling the enemies of crops plants like nematodes, insect pests, parasites and they only harm the harmful organisms for the crops they do not cause any damages to other beneficial organisms present in surroundings.
Classical Biocontrol:
They are natural predators which are useful for controlling different invasive plants but sometimes it gets worse if we are not able to choose the proper biocontrol agent.
Inductive Control:
In this method of biological control a large number of natural enemies are used to prevent the growth of harmful organisms, for example use of nematodes for targeting a weed.
Different types of biological agents are insects and predators like different types of spiders, wasps, dragonflies, and ladybugs are used to prevent the pests in crop plants.
We can destroy different pests by using different microorganisms, for example fungi Entomophaga is used to control green peach aphid and we use Coccobacillus bacteria which cause damage to the digestive system of insects and aphid so we can use them again insects pests.
Merits of Biological Control:
- Biologics do not cost very much because most of them are available naturally and they do not need to be synthesized as in case of chemical pesticides.
- It is beneficial for our ecosystem and for maintaining a healthy lifestyle because in this method we do not use chemical pesticides so they do not cause any harm to the ecosystem and the animals who consume the plant crops as food.
- They can be used easily because they do not cause overdose or any other side-effects to the crops.
Demerits of Biological Control:
Biological control is not effective in large fields because they are not able to control the pest fast as the chemical pest does and all the pest is not removed, sometimes few pests still remain in the crops and they grow again.
Read More: Biochemical Oxygen Demand
Hi Everyone!!! Welcome to Imaluop. Imaluop always try to learn some new and he want to share to other people. Here we will try to learn various topics on Science, specially on Biological Sciences.