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Published by anmehta25, 2019-09-04 05:49:39

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ORIENTATION OF RECENT ADVANCES OF IPM TECHNOLOGY THROUGH EXTENSION SKILLS

Viral diseases of agriculturally important crops and their
management

V K Baranwal and Kavi Sidharthan
ICAR-Indian Agriculture Research Institute, ACPV, Division of Plant Pathology, New Delhi

1. Introduction

Plant viruses are submicroscopic, transmissible, intracellular, obligate parasite of plants and
consists of nucleic acid (either RNA or DNA), which is typically surrounded by a protein coat.
Viral particles may be of rod shape, flexuous, icosahedral or bacilliform. Plant viral diseases
are of great concern in crop production as currently there is no cure for virus infected plant.
Among important plant viruses, the viruses belonging to genera Begomovirus,
Orthotospovirus (Tospovirus), Cucumovirus, Potyvirus and Tobamovirus while other virus
genera like Polerovirus, Potexvirus, Ilarvirus, Badnavirus Nanovirus, Ampelovirus and
Closterovirus are gaining importance nowadays. Under favourable conditions, these viruses
can cause yield reduction up to 100 % in different crops. Most of the plant viruses are
transmitted either by insect vector or by seeds. A few of them are transmitted mechanically
also.

2. Major viral genera infecting important crops in India

2.1. Begomoviruses: These are mono/bipartite ssDNA viruses encapsidated in geminate
icosahedral particles. They are sometimes associated with satellite DNA which enhances the
pathogenicity of the helper virus.

Symptoms: Symptoms greatly vary in different crops. They cause leaf curling in solanaceous
crops (tomato leaf curl virus), yellowing of leaf veins in bhendi (bhendi yellow vein mosaic
virus), golden mosaic in cowpea (mungbean yellow mosaic virus), yellow mosaic in mungbean
and urdbean (mungbean yellow mosaic virus and mungbean yellow mosaic India virus) in
soybean ( soybean yello mosaic virus) and mosaic in cucurbitaceous crops (ToLCNDV). In
cotton downward and upward curling of leaves and thickening of veins and enation on
underside of leaves are the characteristic symptoms of the disease. In serve infection all the
leaves are curled and growth retarded. Boll bearing capacity is reduced

Transmission: All the begomoviruses are transmitted by whiteflies in a persistent circulative
manner.

2.2. Orthotospoviruses: These are the only plant infecting viral genera under the family
Bunyaviridae. The particles are quasi-spherical shaped surrounded by a host derived
membrane envelope. They have tripartite negative sense RNA genome.

Important orthotospoviral species: Groundnut bud necrosis virus, Watermelon bud necrosis
virus, Capsicum chlorosis virus, Iris yellow spot virus and Peanut yellow spot virus

Symptoms: In groundnut, first symptoms are visible 2-6 weeks after infection as ring spots
on leaves. The newly emerging leaves are small, rounded or pinched inwards and rugose with
varying patterns of mottling and minute ring spots. Necrotic spots and irregularly shaped

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lesions develop on leaves and petioles. Stem also exhibits necrotic streaks. Plant becomes
stunted with short internodes and short auxillary shoots. Leaflets show reduction in size,
distortion of the lamina, mosaic mottling and general chlorosis. In advanced conditions, the
necrosis of buds occurs. Top bud is killed and necrosis spreads downwards. Drastic reduction
in flowering and seeds produced are abnormally small and wrinkled with the dark black
lesions on the testa.

In vegetable crops (tomato, chilli and onion), chlorotic or necrotic rings are produced on the
leaves, fruits of infected plants. Necrosis may develop on the foliage and stem and make the
plants to dry from tip downwards and is commonly called as “bud necrosis”. At later stages,
the virus may kill the infected plant.

Transmission: The virions are transmitted by various species of thrips in a persistent
propagative manner.

2.3. Cucumoviruses: These are the tripartite positive sense ss RNA viruses encased in identical
icosahedral particles.

Symptoms: The viruses cause leaf mosaic, leaf distortion, fruit mosaic, stunting, mottling and
yellowing (in various cucurbitaceous crops) while it causes necrosis, mottling, mosaic,
narrowing or shoe-string of leaves and stunting in case of tomato (CMV).

Transmission: The viruses are transmitted by various species of aphids in a non-persistent
manner. They also spread through seed and mechanical means.

2.4. Tobamoviruses: These are the monopartite positive sense ss RNA viruses having rod
shaped particle symmetry.

Important tobamoviral species: Tobacco mosaic virus, Tomato mosaic virus, Cucumber green
mottle mosaic virus and pepper mild mottle virus.

Symptoms: The viruses commonly cause green mosaic on leaves. In addition, systemic mosaic,
mottling, stunting of plant growth, chlorosis, curling, distortion and dwarfing of leaves are
also seen. In some plants, necrotic areas develop on the leaves and leaflets may become long
and pointed and apper like shoe-string at times.

Transmission: The viruses are transmitted mechanically and in nature they are spread by
incidental contact and wounding. The viruses can be carried on seed. The viruses are hardy
which facilitates their survival in crop debris, including roots in soil and on contaminated
equipment and clothing.

2.5. Potyviruses: These are the largest group of plant infecting viruses with monopartite
positive sense ss RNA genome. They appear as flexuous particles.

Important potyviral species: Papaya ring spot virus, Zucchini yellow mosaic virus, Chilli veinal
mottle virus and Bean common mosaic virus. Sugarcane mosaic virus, Soybean mosaic virus

Symptoms: General symptoms caused by potyviruses are alternating light and dark green
pattern (mosaic) on leaves, stunting of plants, leaf curling, blistering puckering of leaves and
fruit distortion. In sugarcane, the disease appears more prominently on the basal portion of
the younger foliage as chlorotic or yellowish stripes alternate with normal green portion of

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the leaf. As infection becomes severe, yellow stripes appear on the leaf sheath and stalks.
Elongated necrotic lesions are produced on the stalks and stem splitting occurs. The necrotic
lesions also develop on the internodes and the entire plant becomes stunted and chlorotic.

Transmission: Potyviruses are transmitted easily by mechanical means, seed, pollen,
contaminated field equipments and most commonly by aphids.

3. Detection of plant viruses

The saying “Prevention is better than cure” holds good for viral diseases. As the virus infected
plants cannot be cured, detection/indexing of plant viruses in planting materials plays an
important role in viral disease management. Plant viruses can be detected by electron
microscopy (TEM), serological methods (ELISA, DIBA, TIBA, ISEM, LFA) and nucleic acid based
methods (PCR and its variants). Commercial ELISA or lateral flow kits can be used for
detection of major plant viruses (https://www.loewe-info.com/ , https://www.agdia.com).

4. Management of viral diseases

The viral diseases can be managed to a considerable extent using combination of the
following methods.

4.1. Host Resistance: Use of tolerant/resistant cultivars is the most important component in
the integrated disease management strategy. Some resistant genotypes identified against
viral diseases include Arka Abhaya (IIHR), CO-3 (TNAU), for Bhendi yellow vein mosaic disease,
Kashi Aman (IIVR) for tomato leaf curl disease, Punjab lal (PAU) for chillies leaf curl disease.

4.2. Cultural methods: Cultural practices that minimize the chances of viral infection include
field sanitation, use of insect proof nets, avoidance of susceptible cultivars, early sowing of
crops to avoid insect vectors, closer planting, rouging of infected plants, intercropping with
non host crops, mulching to avoid vectors, use of traps to reduce vector population.

4.3. Chemical methods: All the above methods can be used only before the onset of the
disease but when the disease occurs, chemical control seems to be the only option. Use of
chemical insecticides will eliminate the insects with immediate effect from the cropping
canopy. Several systemic insecticides like dimethoate (2ml/l), imidacloprid (0.5-0.75ml/l),
azadirachtin (3l/ ha) and neem oil (3ml/l) when sprayed from crop emergence to fruit
formation stage will effectively reduce insect vector population and minimize loss caused by
viral diseases.

4.4. Use of certified seeds/ planting material. The seed borne viruses or viruses transmitted
by budwood or other planting material can be effectively managed by use of certified seeds
or planting material. Viruses have been successfully managed in potato and banana under
certification programme of National Certification System for Tissue cultured Programme of
Department of Biotechnology

4.5. IDM module for viral disease management

 Planting of resistant varieties wherever possible.
 Use of virus free seed/ planting material to avoid seed borne viruses eg: Lettuce

mosaic virus.

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 Seed treatment with Pseudomonas fluorescens @ 10 g/kg of seed to control mosaic

disease in cucurbits.
 Seed treatment/ seedling dip with systemic insecticides like imidacloprid to avoid

vector population at the early plant growth stage.
 Application of neem cake @ 1.0kg/m2 in the seed bed.
 Use of crop cover, silver colour mulching, bio-pesticide and insecticide spray in

vegetable crops
 Raising border crops in the main field to reduce the virus titre in incoming vector eg:

raising two rows of pearl millet as border crop 15 days before okra sowing to reduce
yellow vein mosaic disease.
 Proper field sanitation thereby destroying the alternative hosts of insects
 Rouging of infected plants in the initial stage thereby reducing the inoculums source
for vectors.
 Monitoring vector population using sticky/ light traps and timely spraying of
insecticides.

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ORIENTATION OF RECENT ADVANCES OF IPM TECHNOLOGY THROUGH EXTENSION SKILLS

Pesticide regulation in India with reference to Biopesticides

Dr. B.S Phogat
Directorate of Plant Protection, Quarantine & Storage,
Ministry of Agriculture, NH-IV, Faridabad, Haryana, India

Herbicides, insecticides & fungicides broadly known as ‘pesticides’, are one of the essential
inputs in sustaining agricultural production of the country to feed burgeoning population. As
pesticides are meant to kill, they are toxic and, thus, inherently hazardous. Accidental
contamination of food stuff with pesticides in late 50s and early 60s, led to their regulation
under a comprehensive legislation, namely, The Insecticides Act, 1968 (the Act). The
Insecticides Rules, 1971 (the Rules), were subsequently framed to give effect to the provisions
of the Act. As on date 939 such molecules have been included in the schedule to the Act. Such
inclusion is done by the Federal Government on the recommendation of the Central
Insecticides Board, which too is constituted by the Federal Government through a Gazette
Notification under Section 4 of the Act. The Board advises the Federal and Provincial
Governments on technical matters arising out of administration of this Act on matters such
as risk to human beings or animals involved in the use of insecticides and safety measures
necessary to prevent such risk and on the matters, relating to manufacture, sale, storage,
transport and distribution of insecticides with a view to ensure safety to human beings or
animals. Any person desiring to import or manufacture any
herbicide/insecticide/fungicide/bio pesticide has to make an application to the Registration
Committee (RC), constituted by the Federal Government under Section 5 of the Act and
obtain a registration under Section 9 of the Act. Main function of the Registration Committee
is to scrutinize the formulae of pesticides and verify claims regarding efficacy and safety to
human beings, animals and environment. The Registration Committee has the powers to
decide its own procedure to conduct its business. The Registration Committee frames
guidelines for different categories of registration so as to avoid arbitrariness in scrutinizing
applications and achieving satisfaction with regard to efficacy and safety of pesticides before
granting registration, i.e. before permitting their use. As per the recommendation of the Joint
Parliamentary Committee on Pesticide Residues and Safety Standards for Soft Drinks, Fruit
Juice and other beverages, no registration for use of pesticides in agriculture is granted
without fixing of Maximum Residue Limits (MRLs) except for certain exemptions. Registration
Committee grants three types of registrations under Section 9 of the Act, viz. (i) provisional
registration on the basis of minimum data for two years for first time introduction of
pesticides under Section 9 (3B) to facilitate complete data generation; (ii) a regular or
“original” registration under section 9 (3) based on complete scientific data as per the
guidelines of the Registration Committee; and (iii) a repeat or “me too” registration for the
same pesticide on same conditions under Section 9 (4) as already granted under section 9 (3).
Registration for import or manufacture for the purpose of export only are also granted under
Section 9 (3) on fast track to facilitate exports, wherein no scientific data is sought.
Registrations for bio-pesticides are also granted with very relaxed data under Section 9 (3B)
and 9(3) with commercialization to encourage their use and promote environment-friendly
Integrated Pest Management approach of plant protection. As on date 288 technical along
with their 717 formulations have been registered for use in the country. Out of which 14 are
bio-pesticides with 23 formulations. There is no repeat or “me too” registration for bio-

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pesticides as chemical equivalence cannot be established being culture-based products.
Registration of pesticides is on such conditions as may be laid down by the Registration
Committee and can be modified from time-to-time. A pesticide can be refused registration, if
the claims on its efficacy or safety are not proved by the scientific data, and a registration, if
already issued can also be cancelled in the interest of public safety. No person can import or
manufacture a pesticide in contravention to the provisions of the Act or the Rules. Once the
registration has been obtained by a person, he also has to obtain a license to manufacture,
stock, distribute and sell the product from the Provincial Govt. in which he proposes to
conduct the business. However, for issuance of license for stocking, distribution, retail sale or
commercial pest control operations, registration is not a pre-requisite. The Act provides for
joint responsibility of the Federal and Provincial Governments for monitoring the quality of
pesticides. Both can appoint Insecticide Inspectors to inspect manufacturing, stocking or sale
premises at any reasonable time to ensure the compliance of conditions of registration and
licensing, and also take copies of records besides samples of products manufactured, stocked,
distributed or sold by them and have them tested/analysed as per the specifications approved
by the Registration Committee. Interfering with the duties of an Insecticide Inspector is a
punishable offence under the Act. The first analysis of a sample is carried out by an Insecticide
Analyst, who can be appointed by the Federal or Provincial Government, and in case of its
non-confirmation to the relevant specification and challenge, there is a provision for appellate
testing/analysis at the Central Insecticides Laboratory, whose results are conclusive evidence
of the facts stated therein. Any person, who contravenes any provision of the Act or the Rules
is liable to administrative action, viz. suspension or cancellation of license, etc. and punishable
as per the penal provisions laid down under section 29 of the Act, which envisage fine as well
as imprisonment varying with the category of offence, including publication of name and
address of offenders in the newspapers in case of frequent commitment of offences by the
same person. The Act has been in operation for about five decades, after publication of the
Rules in 1971. The administrators, the regulators, the registrants, the licensees and the users,
all have been feeling that there is a need to bring improvement for better regulation. A bill,
namely The Pesticides Management Bill, 2014 is under consideration of Government. In
addition to this Act, relevant provisions in EPA Act, Factories Act, FSSAI are enforced for
pesticides regulation. India is also signatory for international conventions on pesticides like
Stockholm, Rotterdam, Basel and Montreal.

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Microbial formulations for pest management with special
reference to Trichoderma

S C Dubey and Aradhika Tripathi
, ICAR-National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources, Division of Plant Quarantine, New Delhi

The revolution in agriculture has intensified agricultural practices to meet the ever-increasing
food demand. The mounting pressure on the farmer community to increase productivity has
led to the excessive use of chemicals. Drastic and non-judicious use of chemicals causes
resistant development in plant pathogens, imbalance in biological status, out breaks of
several diseases, besides atmospheric pollution, which have promoted to use biocontrol
agents for plant disease management. In the current scenario, the use of biocontrol agents
seems to be the most promising technology, which maintains the equilibrium between useful
and harmful composition of the existing environment (Sain, 2016). Biocontrol of plant disease
has been considered a viable alternative method to manage plant diseases. Biological control
is the inhibition of growth, infection or reproduction of one organism using another organism.
The term applies to the use of microbial antagonists directly or its product to suppress
diseases as well as use of host specific pathogen to control weed populations. The organisms
that suppress the pests or pathogens is referred to as the biological control agents (BCA).

A variety of BCA are available to manage the plant diseases, but further development in the
form of bio-formulations and effective adoption is required a greater understanding of the
complex interactions among plants, pathogen, BCA and environment. A biological control
agent colonizes the rhizosphere, the site requiring protection and leaves no toxic residues as
opposed to chemicals (Dubey et al., 2007). Various type of microorganisms are being used as
BCA. Amongst these, several fungi sharing 95% have been explored for their biocontrol ability
and successfully utilized at laboratory conditions. The most commonly used fungal
antagonists are species of Trichoderma, Coniothyrium minitans, Chaetomium globosum,
Ampelomyces quisqualis, Talaromyces flavous, Aspergillus niger, non-pathogenic Fusarium
oxysporum and several Mycorrhizae etc. Some of them have been used effectively against
different plant diseases at field levels.

Among the well explored biocontrol agents, antagonistic fungi from genus Trichoderma are
the most extensively used in the biological plant protection and/or integrated pest
management (IPM) programs (Harman et al., 2004). Trichoderma spp. are capable for
stimulation of plant growth and for induction of its defense mechanisms (Gebarowska et al.,
2019). Numerous reports showed that the Trichoderma strains had a significant effect on
reducing the plant diseases caused by several soil and seed borne fungal plant pathogens such
as, Fusarium spp., Phytophthora spp., Pythium spp., Alternaria alternata, Sclerotinia spp,
Gaeumannomyces graminis, Rhizoctonia solani, Verticillium dahliae, and Botrytis cinerea
(Dubey et al., 2011; 2012 and 2017; Gebarowska et al., 2019).

Various bacterial antagonists namely, species of Agrobacterium, Azotobactor, Arthrobacteria,
Bacillus, Entrobactor, Erwinia, Flavobacterium, Entrobactor, Pseudomonas and Streptomyces
are reported to have potentiality to become good BCA. Of these, B. subtillis and P. fluorescens
have been explored and widely used as an effective BCA. Mass production and
commercializing the biocontrol agents is necessary to overcome the negative and harmful

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effects the chemicals more prominent in our current scheme of disease management.
Recently, an integrated management strategy involving fungal (T. harzianum) and bacterial
(Pseudomonas fluorescens and Bacillus species) antagonists, rhizobacterium and a fungicide
was developed for the management of chickpea wilt caused by Fusarium oxysporum f. sp.
ciceris. PGPR (plant growth promoting rhizobacteria) strain P. fluorescens 80 (Pf 80) and
Bacillus species (Bskm 5) caused the highest mycelial growth inhibition. Pf 80 was found to be
compatible with T. harzianum and Mesorhizobium ciceri. The fungicides Vitavax, Topsin M,
Thiram, Ridomil MZ 72, Captaf and Indofil M 45 inhibited the growth of F. oxysporum f. sp.
ciceris and were compatible with T. harzianum, Pf 80 and M. ciceri, which were insensitive to
fungicides including Vitavax Power. The combination of the seed dressing formulation Pusa
5SD developed from T. harzianum, Pf 80, M. ciceri and Vitavax Power provided maximum
protection to emerging seedlings. The seeds treated with Pusa 5SD, Pf 80, M. ciceri and
Vitavax Power provided the highest germination and grain yield and the lowest wilt incidence
in pot and field experiments (Dubey et al., 2015).

Mass production or multiplication

The purpose of production is to produce the greatest quantity of efficacious
propagules/masses in the shortest period. Scale-up of biomass production procedures must
optimize product quantity without compromise of product efficacy or amenability to
stabilization and formulation. Formulating bio-formulations and evaluation of formulation
ingredients that are cost effective and promote product stability has progressed with several
microorganisms over the past decade. The development of a stable, cost effective and easily
applicable biocontrol formulation is critical in biocontrol. The application of alginate pellet
and talc based formulations of bio-agents is an important approach for the management of
plant diseases. It has been recognized that in the formulation of alginate gels with
Trichoderma species, a food base such as groundnut or wheat.

Commercial –scale mass production: The bio-formulations may be of the following types
depending on use and antagonistic microorganisms.

 Wettable powder
 Water-dispersible granules
 Oil-based emulsifiable suspension
 Aqueous suspension
 Granules
 Floating tablet
 Oil-flowable
 Whole culture
 Shellac latex formulation
 Capsulated formulations
Raw materials: Diseases management using biocontrol formulations involve the mass
production of biocontrol agents on different substrates. Several scientists across world have
tried several substrates for mass scale production of bio-formulations. Some of them are as
follows:

Powdered rye grass seed

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 Diatomaceous earth granules + molasses
 Wheat bran peat formulation
 Sorghum seeds
 Sugarcane and maize straw
 Tapioca rind or thippi substrate
 Talc formulation
 Coffee fruit skin and cherry husk
 Alginate-Wheat bran
 Coconut coir pith
 Alginate pellets
 Vermiculite wheat bran and cellulose granule formulation
 Distilled waste of aromatic plants
 Wheat bran formulation
 Wheat bran saw dust formulation
 Molasses - yeast medium
Base/Carrier materials: Different base or carrier materials are being used to develop bio-
formulations depending on availability of the materials in low price as well as suitable for
survival of the propagules.

 Talc (Magnesium silicate)
 Peat
 Multani soil
 Kaolin (Aluminium silicate)
 Bentonite (Montmorillonite)
 Plant based substrates
 Manures and agricultural by-products
 Multiplication of inoculums

After the isolation and through laboratory evaluation of the efficacy of the biocontrol agents
both for its growth and biocontrol efficacy, the bio control agents have to be multiplied in
large scale to use as inoculum in the substrates which are going to be used as carrier for bio-
formulation. Mostly the mass multiplication includes submerged or deep-tank fermentation,
semi-solid fermentation and solid fermentation techniques for bacterial and fungal biocontrol
agents. The inoculum may be multiplied either in liquid or solid medium/substrates. The
required quantity of the inoculum should be added to the substrate to get desired colony
forming unit (cfu/g) of the product.

In liquid medium: Either use simple multiplication on broth medium or multiply in liquid
fermenter (Dubey et al., 2009).

 Take potato dextrose broth in flasks
 Sterilize at 1.1kg/cm2 for 20 minutes
 Inoculate with 7 days old culture of bio-agent and incubate at 25 + 10C
 Filter mycelial growth along with spores
 Dry at room temperature
 Make fine powder through grinder

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 Count colony forming units (cfu) per gram of powder
 On solid based substrate: Multiply on any agriculture based bi-product/grains (Dubey

et al., 2009).
 Take sorghum grains and soak overnight in water
 Fill in flasks/bottles
 Sterilize at 1.1kg/cm2 for 20 minutes for two subsequent days
 Inoculate with 7 days old culture of bio-agent and incubate at 25 + 1°C
 Take out well-colonized sorghum grains from flasks/bottles
 Dry at room temperature
 Make fine powder through grinder
 Count cfu per gram of powder
Production determined: It is based on production efficiency, product quality and potential.

Locally available substrates like wheat bran, pulse bran, sugarcane bagasse, rice straw, wheat
straw, cow dung, poultry manure, groundnut shell and saw dust have been evaluated for the
mass multiplication of T. viride, T. harzianum and T. virens. The bioefficacy was evaluated
against web blight of urd and mung beans caused by R. solani. Wheat straw-pulse bran-tap
water proved to be the best substrate for the mass multiplication of Trichoderma species. It
was found to be superior to the reported substrate wheat bran-saw dust-tap water. Soil
application of this substrate at 6 g kg-1 of soil was found to be optimal against web blight
disease. Alginate pellets for soil application (Pusa Biopellet 10G) and seed dressing (Pusa 5SD)
formulations with a new food base have been developed from the isolates of T. viride (IARI P-
1; MTCC No. 5369), T. virens (IARI P-3; MTCC No. 5370) and T. harzianum (IARI P-4; MTCC No.
5371) to increase the shelf-life of the product and its effectiveness against plant diseases. The
newly developed seed dressing formulation, Pusa 5SD, and soil application formulation, Pusa
Biopellet (PBP), exhibited longer shelf-life than the available products. Another formulation,
Pusa Biogranule (PBG), also varied in cfu counts during different periods of storage. Pusa 5SD
could be used after up to 25 months of storage while PBP 10G and PBG 5 could be used after
up to 15 months of storage. Pusa 5SD yielded 2.1x107cfu per gram against initial an 1010 cfu
per gram of formulation, whereas Pusa Biopellet 10G yielded 9.8x105cfu per pellet against an
initial 108cfu per pellet. Indian patent applications have been filed for both formulations and
patent has been granted for Pusa 5SD (patent no. 292555).

Quality Control for bio-formulations

A crucial feature of the biocontrol agent production is an effective quality control system.
Well-defined product specifications with accompanying quality control measures help to
capitalize on product performance, ensure safety of the product, standardize manufacturing
costs and reduce the risks of supply failure. Many low technology production systems have
minimal or no quality control procedures (Jenkins et al., 2000). This practice is unacceptable
and detrimental for the reputation of bio control as well as increases the health risks to the
manufacturers and to the end users. Therefore, certain standards for the formulation needs
to be followed as mentioned.

Standards for Trichoderma formulations

Colony Forming Unit (cfu) count on selective medium should be minimum

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 2x106 per ml or per g for Trichoderma formulation.
 Contaminants including biological contaminants are not permissible.
 Pathogenic contaminants such as gram-negative bacteria Salmonella, Shigella, Vibrio

and such other microbes should not be present.
 Other microbial contaminants should not exceed 1x104 count per ml or per g of

formulation.
 Chemical/botanical pesticide contaminants should not be present.
 Stability of CFU counts at 30°C and 65% RH.
 Maximum moisture content should not be more than 8% for dry formulation of fungi.
 Registration of bio-agents
Two important factors in registration of bio agents are the toxicity and environmental fate.
Under Section 9 (3) of Pesticide Act of India 1968, information required for the registration of
any bio pesticide are:

 Systemic name and common name of the biocontrol agent
 Natural occurrence
 Morphological description of the of the bio agent
 Details of manufacturing process
 Mammalian toxicity
 Environmental toxicity
 Residual analysis
Better agricultural practices and use of eco-friendly methods for sustainable crop production
are needed under climate change situations and Trichoderma species could be a model fungus
to sustain crop productivity under such situations. Presently, they are widely used as
biocontrol, bio-fertilization and phytostimulation. They are reported to improve
photosynthetic efficiency, enhance nutrient uptake and increase nitrogen use efficiency in
crops. Moreover, they can be used to produce bio-energy, facilitate plants for adaptation and
mitigate adverse effect of climate change. Trichoderma as biological control agents have been
widely used against many plant pathogens, such as viruses, bacteria, fungi, nematodes, and
higher parasitic plants. The significance of Trichoderma in the control of plant diseases that
results in improvements in sustainable agriculture has to be emphasized as the global
biopesticides market is booming with a major share of various commercial formulations
of Trichoderma.

References

Dubey, S.C., Suresh, M. and Singh, B. (2007). Evaluation of Trichoderma species against
Fusarium oxysporum. f. sp. ciceris for integrated management of chickpea wilt. Biol. Control.
40: 118-127.

Dubey, S.C., Bhavani, R. and Singh, B. (2009). Development of Pusa 5SD for seed dressing and
Pusa Biopellet 10G for soil application formulations of Trichoderma harzianum and their
evaluation for integrated management of dry root rot of mungbean (Vigna radiata). Biol.
Control 50: 231-242.

Dubey, S.C., Bhavani, R. and Singh, B. (2011). Integration of soil application and seed
treatment formulations of Trichoderma species for management of wet root rot of mungbean
caused by Rhizoctonia solani. Pest Manag. Sci. 67: 1163-1168.
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Dubey, S.C., Tripathi, A. and Singh, B. (2012). Combination of soil application and seed
treatment formulations of Trichoderma species for integrated management of wet root rot
caused by Rhizoctonia solani in chickpea. Indian J. Agril. Sci. 82: 357-364.
Dubey SC, Singh Vivek, Kumari Priyanka, Upadhyay BK and Singh Birendra (2015) Combined
application of fungal and bacterial bio-agents, together with fungicide and Mesorhizobium for
integrated management of Fusarium wilt of chickpea. Bio. Control 60: 413-424.
Dubey, S.C., Singh, B., Gupta, O., Saxena, D.R., Sharma, O.P., Kohire, O.D., Anadani, V.P., Singh,
R.K., Singh, S.K. and Tripathi, A. (2017). Management of wilt and root rots of chickpea (Cicer
arietinum) using Trichoderma harzianum in India. Indian J. Agril. Sci. 87: 1283-1287.
Dubey, S.C., Tripathi, A. and Indira, S. (2019). Development of bio-agent based module for
integrated management of sheath blight of rice caused by Rhizoctonia solani. Indian J. Agril.
Sci.89: 663-669.
Gebarowska, E., Pytlarz-Kozicka, M., Nofer, J., Lyczko, J., Adamski, M. and Szumny, A. (2019).
The Effect of Trichoderma spp. on the Composition of Volatile Secondary Metabolites and
Biometric Parameters of Coriander (Coriandrum sativum L.). J. Food Quality.
https://doi.org/10.1155/2019/5687032
Harman, G.E., Howell, C.R., Viterbo, A., Chet, I. and Lorito, M. (2004). Trichoderma species –
opportunistic, avirulent plant symbionts. Nature Reviews 2: 43-56.
Jenkins, N.E. and Grzywacz, D. (2000). Quality control of fungal and viral biocontrol agents-
assurance of product performance. Biocontrol Sci. Techn. 10: 753-777.
Sain, S.K. (2016). Mass Production of Trichoderma spp. In: Kumar V., Singh, S.K. and Sharma,
S. (Eds.), Bioassay, production protocol and quality control for Trichoderma based
biopesticides-Training manual, National Research Centre on Litchi, Muzaffarpur, Bihar, India,
pp 69-74.
Singh, U.S. and Zaidi, N.W. (2002). Current Status of formulation and delivery of fungal and
bacterial antagonists for disease management in India. In Microbial Biopesticide Formulations
and Application (Eds. Rabindra, R.J., Hussaini, S.S., Ramanujam, B.) Project Directorate of
Biological Control, Bangalore. pp 168-179.

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Modern Extension Tools, Skills and Approaches in Plant
Protection

R.N. Padaria
ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, Division of Agricultural Extension, New Delhi

INTRODUCTION

Pest management is one of the most important as well as highly knowledge intensive
agricultural operations. Farmers often suffer colossal loss due to incidence of pest and
diseases and lack of their effective and timely control measures. Pest menace immensely
threatens the food as well as livelihood security. Therefore, stress has to be laid upon effective
communication and speedy dissemination of management practices for pest management.
Besides the prominent conventional methods have played significant role in dissemination of
plant protection technologies among farmers, there is growing emphasis upon deployment
of innovative approaches like Farmer Field Schools, ICT enabled extension, social learning,
convergence based extension, etc. The contribution of information and knowledge in
bringing about social and economic development has been well recognized globally.
However, communicating this relevant knowledge and information to rural communities
continues to remain as a major challenge even today, though the world has been better
connected than ever before. Addressing the information need of the farmers is a major
concern especially for the developing countries due to insufficient rural infrastructure,
inaccessible terrain, lack of funds and other reasons as well. The advent of new age
Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), like personal computers, the internet
and mobile telephones have provided a much wider choice in collection, storage, processing,
transmission and presentation of information in multiple formats to meet the diverse
information requirements and skills of people. Especially mobile phones provide a new
platform through which rural communities will be able to access government schemes and
services, crop related information like weather, soil, water, fertilizers and pesticides that are
specific to their plot of land and availability of seeds, local market prices etc., using text, data,
and audio browsing techniques. Anandaraja et al., (2012) in their study on orientation and
utility of ICT in agriculture had stated that agri-preneurship, agricultural informatics and
agricultural development had been enriched with advances in ICT which was providing a
better agricultural services, helping in technology dissemination and information delivery
through computer based advisory services (offline), net based services (on-line) and mobile
based services (real-time).

1. ICT based extension

According to Thakur et al. (2018); Information and Communication Technologies (ICT’s) are
playing a significant role in connecting all the stakeholders in Plant Health Management
(PHM) systems. Various ICT approaches have been exploited to bring down the relevant
information to the farmers. These innovative technologies have been found to transform and
expand the reach of the extension services. They spoke about Plantwise which is a CABI led
global programme that supported national extension systems through its network of plant
clinics in developing countries to provide smallholder farmers with better access to plant

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health information and improved their livelihoods by minimizing crop losses. These ICT

approaches had been helpful in delivering accurate and timely information to farmers,

collecting and making available real time data for informing better decision making as well as

building better knowledge networks among extension workers and researchers. Wright et

al.(2016) emphasized that Information and Communication Technologies (ICT’s) were able to

assist more farmers with better advice had significantly improved access to plant health

information, valued being able to ask their peers for advice, and dramatically improved the

quality and speed of the data extension workers collected. The uses of ICT’s as reported by

researchers were: Stakeholders received the data far more quickly allowing them to rapidly

respond to threats, plant doctors gave higher quality recommendations ,using updatable

reference materials installed on the tablets. , chat groups enabled plant doctors to ask each

other for advice, plant doctors collected more data on plant pests and diseases, more advice

was given to farmers per clinic session, plant doctors were coming up with innovative new

uses for the tablet, plant doctors used the tablets in all aspects of their extension work

participatory design approach had created strong local ownership, tablets streamlined the

data collection and resource delivery process. Sharma et al.(2014) studied on the importance

of "E-National Pest Reporting and Alert System" in pulse crops which is a unique ICT based

decision support system, that was found to be very effective and easy to operate through a

centralized server system at National Centre for Integrated Pest Management, New Delhi,

connected with internet and mobile phones. This system was developed to cater to the needs

of rural farmers of India, who grow pulse crops. They applied suitable corrective measures as

per advisories at right time, and thereby, heavy loss caused by various pests could be

checked/minimized below economic threshold level. Based on the past experiences and

larger response of the stakeholders, Department of Agriculture and Cooperation, Govt. of

India, suggested that this program should be extended and implemented in all pulse growing

states. This system was found to be quiet useful bottom to top level officials/policy makers,

involved in E-Pest Surveillance programme. Vennila et al. (2012) ascertained that the use of

ICT’s in plant protection had obviated the drawback of non-availability of complete data sets

on pests at one or a few places that made the spatial and temporal pest scenario

compilations and exchanges highly difficult for the crop. ICT-based pest surveillance not only

brought convergence in measuring pests essential for comparison purposes but also fastened

the pest scenario known on real time basis for instant recommendations of need-

based pest management through advisory notifications. They reported that electronic

gadgets and networking made pest surveillance and monitoring a commercial enterprise

however with the continuous trainings and skill development made available. They said that

there is a need to develop instant feedback mechanisms from farmers for aiding alternate

pest/ crop management planning. Okechukwu (2015) proposed a web-based Agro-

Information System (AIS) prototype that could support farmers with agricultural-related

information about a given food crop. He said that the consistency in the application of this

information could help in improving crop yield, in controlling crop pests, in crop diseases

treatment, and in enhancing the overall crop productivity The information contained in the

AIS could also be made accessible to rural farmers through other channels of communication

such as radio, television, agricultural advisory bulletins and other suitable media. Singh et al.

(2019) studied on the ICT based pest surveillance and advisory services for rice in Raisen

district of Madhya Pradesh, India. The improved methods of Information and Communication

Technology (ICT) such as Decision Support Systems (DSSs) greatly helped the farmers in

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accessing the pest management information and expertise. DSSs were the software tools that
support decision-making activities. They collected, organized, integrated and analyzed all
types of information required for decision making and finally used the analysis to recommend
the most appropriate action. Luvisi et al. (2016) ascertained that the ICT’s helped in fast and
systemic response to threats which is the key to success in stopping pest invasions.
Information technology tools also manage lots of data in a short time or coordinating large-
scale monitoring. Researchers also emphasized on the importance of electronic identification
tools which can be applied for plant health management and certification.

Chattopadhyay et al. (2011) stressed the importance of ICT’s in guiding the farmers for
applying the pesticides at the right time to minimize the pollution caused by the slow bio-
degradation of these noxious chemicals. Dhillion and Thind (2016) spoke about the ICAR
based ICT initiatives such as Crop Pest Surveillance and Advisory Project (CROPSAP) for crops
of rice, soybean, cotton, pigeon pea and chickpea, Horticulture Pest Surveillance and Advisory
Project (HortSAP) for banana, mango, pomegranate, Nagpur mandarin, sweet orange and
sapota and On-line pest monitoring and advisory services (OPMAS) for cotton. Researchers
reported that awareness creation among farmers and skill development for pest scouts/
monitors and data entry operators provided strong foundation for e-pest surveillance.

Bartlett (2002) described the use of ICT in Integrated Pest Management (IPM).They enlisted
two important uses of ICT’s such as ICT support for pest management decision making and
ICT support for IPM training. Ugwuishiwu et al. (2012) studied on the application of ICT in crop
production. Researchers proposed an Agro-Information System(AIS) that enabled a farmer to
have relevant information about a crop, such as the varieties and other requirements like soil
type, temperature, type and quantity of fertilizer, time of planting, time of maturity, planting
distance, diseases, pest, pest and disease control measures, rainfall, sunshine, etc. of that
crop. The level of application of this information determined the volume and efficiency of the
crop yield. This information could be broadcasted to the rural populace through electronic
media such as radio, TV and mobile phones. These ICT based services were found to improve
the livelihoods of the farmers.

Gonzalez-de-Santos et al. (2017) assessed the new generation automatic and robotic systems
for effective weed and pest control which aimed at diminishing the use of agricultural
chemical inputs, increasing crop quality and improving the health and safety of production
operators. It was found that these automated systems reduced pesticide input and preserved
the environment while maintaining the necessary level of food production, the efficiency of
relevant processes was drastically improved.

Wyckhuys et al. (2018) reported that customized ICT based initiatives facilitated social
learning among farmers.Videos, smart phones, tablets etc could be used to convey key
ecological concepts and biocontrol technologies, and promoted cross learning among the
users.

Chuang and Jiang deployed web based decision support program for monitoring the
population dynamics of B. dorsalis. It was found that this ICT based intervention helped
farmers and government officials to receive real-time farm status, as well as to carry out pest
control program. Furthermore, a web-based decision support program was available for
farmers and pest control officials to perform data inquiry, analysis, and received newly

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announced pest control tactics using any Internet-connected devices (e.g. computers,
laptops, or smart phones) virtually from anywhere.

Awuor et al. (2013) emphasized on the role of ICT’s in providing extension agents and farmers
with information needed for their crop production and protection activities. They reported
that ICT’s helped in disease and pest control which help in enhancing food security and
supporting rural livelihood.

2. Pusa mKRISHI- a mobile based advisory system

Mobile based agricultural advisory system has become an important means for
communication of information and technologies for better crop management by farmers.
Though several players are using this approach to serve the information needs of the farmers,
there have been serious limitations with mobile advisory in vogue like use of unidirectional
push-principle based SMS and voice mail system and lack of customized, personalized, need
based and appropriate content. To bridge the gaps in mobile advisory system, Pusa mKRISHI
was devised and tested in collaboration with Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) Innovation Lab
– Mumbai. The salient features are as below:

 Dynamic two-way communication system

 Integration of information of climate, farm characteristics and technology

 Besides pushing the information to users’ domain, farmers are capacitated to
communicate their field queries through pictures, text SMS and voice mail.

 Voice mail and graphics for better comprehension by farmers and eliminating
illiteracy barrier

 No to minimal time lag in farmers’ query and experts’ response

 An expert console manages the information flow between the users and the
subject matter specialists

Process: Firstly, the farmers are registered with valid mobile number and mKRISHI software
is downloaded in their mobile. The personal and farm information of the farmers are
recorded in registration.

How it works? Farmer uses his mobile application to record query, take picture of the infested
plant and send it using the GPRS data network. Experts opens his “mail like” Query inbox,
listen to query, analyse all agro- and weather parameters and types (or records) the advice
in local language and sends.

mKRISHI® Expert Console (with Lite and Regular, both): The mKRISHI® console provides an
integrated view of the farmers’ profile, soil test results, farming history, and the required farm
parameters to an expert at remote location. With mKRISHI® platform’s web-console, experts
can analyse every farmer’s query and provide their responses with directives and solutions.

Works on any operator network: BSNL, Vodafone, Idea, Tata, Airtel

mKRISHI® Lite: It is an Interactive Voice Response (IVR) based system. The farmers can dial a
published number (called IVR Service number: 18002099987) from any handset to avail this

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service. Farmers can listen & select the audio prompts (in local language). He can record his
question and get a question id. When advice is available, he can enter the query ID (at check
advice menu).
Impact on users: Earlier the approach was tested in four states namely, Haryana (district
Mewat). Madhya Pradesh ( districtDhar), Odisha (district Ganjam) and Maharshtra (district
Raigad). At present through IARI about 2000 farmers are covered. The user farmers could
effectively plan the agricultural practices particularly selection of appropriate varieties,
management of disease and insect pests, scheduling of irrigation, weed management, etc.
weather alerts could help farmers take measures to save crops and harvested produce. The
user groups saved their wheat crop against storm and lodging by skipping irrigation due to
weather alerts of imminence of rain.

Expert Console of Pusa mKRISHI
3. Kisan Call Centre
One of the draw-backs experienced in the current human resource based extension service
has been that the monitoring authorities are not able to get a clear feedback on the quality
of extension services being delivered in the villages. Further, the extension services delivered
is what has been given to them by the higher authorities. With the decrease in the number of
extension workers (1000:1 Farmer: Extension Worker ratio) and to make use of available
telecom network, the Department of Agriculture and Cooperation, Ministry of Agriculture,
Govt. of India has started a scheme called Kisan Call Centre from 21.1.04. It is a call centre
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based extension service to deliver knowledge and information exactly as per the
requirements of the farming community at free of cost as and when desired. These call
centres deal with farm related queries in 22 languages across 13 locations. It can be accessed
by farmers all over the country on common toll free number 1800-180-1551, which can be
dialed through landline as well as mobile numbers of all telecom networks from anywhere in
the country. The issues related to agriculture and allied sectors raised by farmers will be
answered, instantly, by an agriculture graduate knowing the local language and having an
understanding of the local agricultural issues at Level –I and by experts located in different
parts of the country at State Agriculture Universities, ICAR institutes, State Department of
Agriculture, Horticulture and other developments are answering the calls at Level –II. There
are call centers for every state which are expected to handle traffic from any part of the
country. This scheme has an in-built system of monitoring and continuous evaluation for
modifications and improvements.

This is a new dimension in agriculture extension service, which makes use of available
telecommunication network, by optimally utilizing the communication bandwidth to serve
the farming community in remotest areas of the country by connecting them to best of the
agricultural scientific community. This is an important value multiplier for the existing
extension mechanisms, which find it otherwise difficult (in terms of infrastructure and
finances) to reach their desired clientele. This will enable establishment of close linkages and
seamless communication mechanism among the key stakeholders in the extension system
namely – Agricultural Scientists, Extension Functionaries, Farmers and Marketing Agencies.

A study on evaluation of the impact of KCC conducted by Administrative Staff College of India
revealed that 84% of the farmers expressed overall satisfaction regarding the advice provided
to them by call centre agents. The study also pointed out that KCC advice resulted in effective
control of pests, weeds and diseases and better management of fertilizer use. It enabled
farmers to take timely decisions and in the process crop production and productivity went up.
Recently, the government has roped up with IFFCO KIsan Sanchar Limited (IKSL) to restructure
Kisan Call Centres (KCCs) - a voice based farmers' advisory service. The restructured KCCs will
be more professional backed up by technological innovations which include flashing SMS to
caller farmers providing a gist of advisories given to them on phone, call barging by experts
and officers, video conferencing, on line monitoring of KCCs and providing latest versions of
guide books and booklets on modern agricultural practices among others.

4. E-learning modules for capacity building

E-learning can be defined as the use of computer and internet tools to deliver a broad array
of solutions to enable learning and improve performance. E-learning module is cost-effective,
interactive and inclusive, stretches learning outside the classroom, engages learner actively,
proceeds at learner’s pace, helps to motivate learners, and provides privacy and individual
attention to each learner exclusively. It can offer effective instructional methods, such as
practicing with associated feedback, combining collaboration activities with self-paced study,
personalizing learning paths based on learners’ needs and using simulation and games.
Further, all learners receive the same quality of instruction because there is no dependence
on a specific instructor.

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In a country like ours with every state having different language and dialect, extension
workers face problems in communicating with people especially rural people where national
language and technical language is of no help. E-learning is helpful to overcome constraint of
geographical, physical, psychological, and gender barrier of learners. It reaches a wider target
audience by engaging learners who have difficulty in attending conventional classroom
training. E-learning content can include simple learning resources, interactive e-lessons or
electronic simulations. It can offer effective instructional methods, such as practicing with
associated feedback, combining collaboration activities with self-paced study, personalizing
learning paths based on learners‟ needs and using simulation and games. Further, all learners
receive the same quality of instruction because there is no dependence on a specific
instructor. Most e-learning courses are developed to build cognitive skills. Learning in the
interpersonal domain can also be addressed in e-learning by using specific methods. For
example, interactive role playing with appropriate feedback can be used to change attitudes
and behavior of learner.

5. Farmer Field Schools (FFS) and Social Learning

The FFS is governed by certain principles (FAO, 1989), such as

 Growing healthy crop by using resistant varieties and efficient water and soil
management

 Monitoring of field regularly in order to assess crop development, incidences of insect
pests and diseases, population count of insect pests and natural enemies

 Conservation of natural enemies of crop pests as plenty of natural enemies is present
in the field. It will avoid the use of pesticide that kills the natural enemies.

 Developing the expertise of farmer in ecological phenomenon and helping them to
make decision based on observations and analysis of their field situation.

Dr Surender Dalal Keet Saksharta Mission in Haryana is carrying forward pest management
principles through “Keet Pathsala- School on Pest Managment. It functions like farmer field
school and serves as a platform for facilitating social learning and enrichment of the
knowledge and skill of the farmers about agroecosystem to obtain maximum output with
sustainability in their agricultural enterprises. “Keet Pathsala” for IPM in cotton constitutes
agroecosystem analysis and use of Dr Dalal solution. It engages a group of 25-30 farmers in
season-long learning activities. Weekly sessions of 3-4 hours are organized to carry out
participatory learning activities related to development stage of crop and problems emerging
at particular stage of crop. Farmers go to the field in the sub-group of 5 farmers, choose10
plants randomly and observe plant health and growth, pests, natural enemies, weeds,
weather related impacts, etc. Each sub-group presents the observations and analyses
regarding plant, weather, disease symptoms, pests, natural enemies, water level using
pictorial drawings. The economic threshold level of insect pests is worked out. Each sub-group
presents its analysis. The observations are discussed in detail in group and the decision about
pest control method is made based upon economic threshold level. This discussion is
facilitated by facilitator, who is either any extension agent or a trained expert. In the study
area of Jind district of Haryana, FFS has become farmer-led FFS, where farmers give training

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to their peer farmers. The farmers of Nidana village of Jind has spread this technology of Dr
Dalal solution to several villages of Haryana and Punjab.

6. Knowledge and skills in handling and safe use of pesticides

Safe handling and use of pesticides is highly essential due to health hazards. However, farmers
either due to ignorance or due to casualness often do not practice safe handling and use of
pesticides. Many times farmers practice inappropriate disposal of pesticide containers leading
to harmful impact on human as well as animals and microbes.

Washing their hands after spray of pesticides, avoiding drinking water, eating food, or
smoking during the spray work, following the direction of wind during spray, using gloves,
spectacles, or protective clothing during spray work, etc must be communicated to the
farmers.

7. Conclusions

ICTs have proven useful and effective in disseminating new information and knowledge on
agriculture. However, due to the continuing digital divide and lack of digital skills and
competencies, the potential of ICTs has not been harnesses fully.

Mobile based agro-advisory services has an unprecedented financial and emotional impact
on the farming community by helping them achieve better yields, secure better prices, and
feel empowered vis-a-vis the strong middlemen community. Firstly, it has empowered
farmers with actionable information, which enable them to take informed decisions and
reduces their production and marketing risk thereby directly enhancing their livelihood.

Approaches like social learning based farmer field schools; convergence based extension,
farmer to farmer extension could be helpful in speedy dissemination of pest management
information.

References

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2. Okechukwu, O. (2015). Application of ICT in Pests Control and Diseases Management
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3. Luvisi, A., Ampatzidis, Y., & De Bellis, L. (2016). Plant pathology and Information
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