Thoroughly revised and updated to reflect current and emerging practices, this book explores modern methods of disease control in field and glasshouse crops. It outlines the major crop diseases, with a particular emphasis on those features of symptomology and life cycle that are most relevant to the development of control measures. Modern diagnostic techniques are considered, focusing on developments in nucleic acid and immunological based procedures and their use in plant quarantine and certification schemes. The potential impact of these advances in molecular technology on plant breeding and disease resistance is also covered. Fungicides are a central part of disease control in the EU and, as such, a comprehensive account of their use forms an important part of the text, along with strategies to minimise the incidence of fungicide resistance in pathogen populations. Looking to the future, the book also addresses legislative, environmental and food safety concerns.

There is increasing interest in the use of fungi for the control of pests, weeds and diseases. This book brings together perspectives from pathology, ecology, genetics, physiology, production technology, to address the use of fungi as biological control agents.

The best alternative to chemical control is often seen as being biological control - the introduction of natural enemies in areas where foreign pests become abundant. However, biological control alone is not always sufficient to maintain pest populations under a tolerable level; and it is necessary to learn how to make it compatible with other methods of control, and in particular with chemicals, in integrated control programs. Data on these important aspects was collected and elaborated over a period of seven to eight years and synthesized in this volume, which was originally published in 1976. The data relates to five groups of species recognized as main agricultural pests over vast areas of developing countries. It shows how complex the interrelationships between microorganisms are how much research effort has to be invested in such disciplines as systematics, physiology, ethnology and ecology for their understanding.

Termites are of great interest to both entomologists and those concerned with pest management. On the one hand their complex social systems and nest building make them fascinating for students of insect behaviour, while on the other they are major pests of crops and buildings in the tropics and subtropics. This book provides a general scientific introduction to the termites, including their biology, behaviour, pest status and control. Commonly used ecological and laboratory techniques are described in appendices. There has been no such general book published for many years and so this title will fill a definite gap in the market. It is aimed at advanced students of entomology and pest management, as well as professionals concerned with urban and agricultural pest control.

Concerns over environmental and human health impacts of conventional weed management practices, herbicide resistance in weeds, and rising costs of crop production and protection have led agricultural producers and scientists in many countries to seek strategies that take greater advantage of ecological processes and thereby allow a reduction in herbicide use. This book provides principles and practices for ecologically based weed management in a wide range of temperate and tropical farming systems. After examining weed life histories and processes determining the assembly of weed communities, the authors describe how tillage and cultivation practices, manipulations of soil conditions, competitive cultivars, crop diversification, grazing livestock, arthropod and microbial biocontrol agents, and other factors can be used to reduce weed germination, growth, competitive ability, reproduction and dispersal. Special attention is given to the evolutionary challenges that weeds pose and the roles that farmers can play in the development of new weed-management strategies.

During recent decades, tremendous progress and innovations have been made in rice science with the goal of increasing production to meet the world's growing demands. This new volume provides a concise overview of rice, covering the background and importance of rice; origin, evolution, and domestication of rice; and the world rice production. It goes on to provide new and important recent research advances on many different aspects of rice science and production. The authors look at advances in rice ideotypes, abiotic stress management techniques, biotic stress affecting crop productivity, new methods and technology for cultivation, and new methods and techniques in rice grain quality analysis and processing. It also describes new rice varieties, new hybrid rice technology, and new breeding methods for rice.

Bringing together bacterial structure and function, taxonomy, environmental microbiology, induction and development of plant disease, molecular genetics and disease control, Dr Sigee unifies the field, at the same time as emphasising exciting developments in cell and molecular biology. The book is written in a clear and concise manner, illustrated with numerous tables, diagrams and photographs.

Insects have evolved very unique and interesting tactics using chemical signals to survive. Chemical ecology illustrates the working of the biological network by means of chemical analyses. Recent advances in analytical technology have opened the way to a better understanding of the more complicated and abyssal interactions of insects with other organisms including plants and microbes. This book covers recent research on insects and chemical communications and presents the current status about challenges faced by chemical ecologists for the management of pests in agriculture and human health.

Evaluates the carcinogenic risk to humans posed by occupational exposure during the spraying and application of insecticides. The book also features separate monographs evaluating the carcinogenicity of 17 individual pesticides, including several that have been banned by industrialized countries yet are still used in the developing world. Although some of these pesticides have been in use for more than four decades, evaluations of carcinogenicity were hindered by the sparsity of well-designed epidemiological studies. The first and most extensive monograph evaluates data from descriptive and ecological studies, cohort studies, and case-control studies suggesting an increased risk of cancer, most notably lung cancer, multiple myeloma and other tumours of B-cell origin, in workers exposed to insecticides during their application. On the basis of this evaluation, the book concludes that the spraying and application of nonarsenical insecticides entail exposures that are probably carcinogenic to humans. The remaining monographs evaluate the carcinogenicity of aldicarb, atrazine, captafol, chlordane, DDT, deltamethrin, dichlorvos, fenvalerate, heptachlor, monuron, pentachlorophenol, permethrin, picloram, simazine, thiram, trifluralin, and zitram. Of these, captafol, a fungicide used on plants, for seed treatment, and as a wood preservative, was classified as probably carcinogenic to humans. Atrazine, chlordane, DDT, dichlorvos, heptachlor, and pentachlorophenol were classified as possibly carcinogenic to humans. The remaining pesticides could not be classified on the basis of available data.

Biological control of insect pests, plant pathogens and weeds, is the only major alternative to the use of pesticides in agriculture and forestry. As with all technologies, there are benefits and risks associated with their utilization. This book is the outcome of a unique gathering of specialists to discuss and debate the benefits and risks associated with biological control. After intensive interaction it was concluded that we must place greater emphasis on the benefits, while not ignoring the potential risks. The authors address the various techniques and approaches used in biological control, including state-of-the-art reports and economic and risk analyses. The book will be of interest to researchers and postgraduate students in academia and industry in biotechnology, agriculture, forestry and environmental sciences.

This study shows how to navigate the diversity of options presented in current ecological theory by developing the first general model of the entomological research requirements of Integrated Pest Management (IPM). The book includes practical advice on understanding and investigating species; examines the ecological problems associated with polyphagous pests and beneficial species; and scrutinizes ways suggested to improve insect biological control. It is an important resource for graduate students and researchers in IPM, insect pest management, entomology, ecology and crop protection.

Techniques for Reducing Pesticide Use Economic and Environmental Benefits Edited by David Pimentel Cornell University, USA Pest insects, plant pathogens, and weeds destroy approximately 400f all potential food production worldwide. This major food loss occurs despite the application of 2.5 million tons of pesticides at a cost of more than $25 billion each year. Pesticides provide many important benefits in pest control, returning about $4 for every $1 invested. However, this cost/benefit ratio does not include the annual environmental and public health costs of using pesticides which include 3 million human poisonings and 220,000 deaths annually worldwide. With more than 2 billion people malnourished in the world, a major effort is required to reduce the continuing 400ss of crops to pests. With a relatively small investment in research and extension, this crop destruction can be reduced. Technologies now exist to reduce pesticide use by at least 50%, without reducing crop yields or substantially altering the 'cosmetic standards' of fresh fruit and vegetables. Reducing pesticide use will lower the economic costs of pest control, protect public health, and improve the stability of the natural environment. The various pest management techniques available are discussed in all chapters of this book. It will help governmental leaders, scientists and the public to understand that many strategies, if implemented, will improve pest management, maintain crop yields, and reduce pesticide use.

The book provides comprehensive information on a wide range of topics from biology, physiology, genetics to the use of genomic tools in weed science. The book covers information at a more advanced level than the previously published books in weed science. It covers not only weed genetics and genomics research, but also weed management from an ecological perspective. Furthermore, the book also gives a broad coverage of novel mechanisms of weed resistance to herbicides. More importantly, it includes next generation sequencing techniques and bioinformatics of herbicide resistant genes in weeds.

Arthropod pests cause huge annual losses in global crop production and transmit a number of infectious diseases. The control of such pests is therefore of the utmost importance. This text provides an up-to-date, detailed overview of current approaches including chemical pest control, the use of biological and biorational control agents, and the latest developments in biotechnology. While an introductory text for students in the fields of pest control, entomology, crop protection, and agricultural and environmental sciences, the volume is also aimed at professional pest control practitioners and government employees in extension services.

Insects, being poikilothermic, are among the organisms that are most likely to respond to changes in climate, particularly increased temperatures. Range expansions into new areas, further north and to higher elevations, are already well documented, as are physiological and phenological responses. It is anticipated that the damage to crops and forests by insects will increase as a consequence of climate change, i.e. increasing temperatures primarily. However, the evidence in support of this common "belief" is sparse. Climate Change and Insect Pests sums up present knowledge regarding both agricultural and forest insect pests and climate change in order to identify future research directions.

HPLC is the principal separation technique for identification of the pesticides in environmental samples and for quantitative analysis of analytes. At each stage of the HPLC procedure, the chromatographer should possess both the practical and theoretical skills required to perform HPLC experiments correctly and to obtain reliable, repeatable, and reproducible results. Developed to serve as a detailed practical guide, High Performance Liquid Chromatography in Pesticide Residue Analysis is a comprehensive source of information and training on state-of-the-art pesticide residue methods performed with the aid of HPLC. The book presents the pros and cons of HPLC as a flexible and versatile separation and analysis tool with multiple purposes and advantages in investigations of pesticides for food and plant drugs standardization, promotion of health, protection of new herbal medicines, and more.

What are the ecological attributes of weeds that confer the ability to interfere with human activities? Roger Cousens and Martin Mortimer place weed management within an ecological context, with the focus on the manipulation of population size. The dynamics of abundance and spatial distribution are considered at both geographic and local scales. The basic processes of dispersal, reproduction and mortality are described, together with the factors that influence them. Management is shown to modify patterns of behaviour that are intrinsic to populations. Attention is given to the evolution and management of resistance to herbicides. This book provides weed science with the conceptual basis that has previously been lacking. It also gives ecologists access to the extensive database on the population ecology of weeds.

The various approaches to pest control are reviewed with emphasis on their history, advantages, disadvantages and future potential. The book discusses how far chemical control has created problems and how far these may be solved by further chemical control or by alternative methods. The reasons why insects are pest problems are discussed so that the ecological merits and demerits of the various control methods can be assessed. Stress is laid on both the biotic and economic environments in which pest control has to operate. - Presents a balanced case concerning the advantages and disadvantages of the chemical control of pests in historical context. - A wide variety of examples are cited and an up-to-date guide to original sources is presented. - Thoroughly revised and updated edition of a highly successful concise textbook.

Hazardous and Trace Materials in Soil and Plants: Sources, Effects and Management explores the latest advancements in reducing, avoiding and eliminating soil contaminants that challenge the health and safety of agricultural plants. With a focus on minimizing the production of those hazardous substances, controlling their distribution and ensuring safe utilization, the book explores each contributing area and provides insights toward improved, sustainable and secure production. This is an excellent reference resource on both current research and future directions from laboratory research to field applications. The combined impacts of climate change and industrialization have led to increased and diversified threats to the health of the soil in which our food crops are grown, as well as in the plants themselves. This dual-hazard scenario is increasingly recognized as a threat to not just the environment, but to global food security as agricultural soils contaminated with pollutants alter plant metabolism, thus resulting in reduced crop quality and production quantity.

Nematodes are the most abundant and diversified group in the animal kingdom, with four out of five animals on earth being nematodes. Nematology was first recognized as an independent discipline during the early part of the century and since that time has made unparalleled advances to become an integral part of biological sciences.Written as two volumes, this title provides a broad overview of our current knowledge of nematology. The first volume addresses basic biology, while this second volume covers applied aspects of nematodes as parasites of plants, humans and other animals, or as disease vectors, and the control of pest nematodes. The contributors to this work include the world s leading authorities from Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, New Zealand, UK and USA. It will provide essential reading for researchers and students with an interest in nematology."

Diseases caused by Ganoderma species cause major losses of palms and other perennial crops throughout the world, and these are particularly significant in Asia. Successive replanting of crop monocultures can be rapidly exploited by soil-borne fungi such as Ganoderma, and the problem will become more serious in the 21st century, as more areas become due for second or even third replanting. Environmental considerations will reduce exploitation of new forest areas, making further replanting of these crops inevitable. Thus, appropriate, integrated management systems for these diseases are vital. However, the development of such control measures has been hampered in the past by a limited knowledge of the nature and inter-relationships of populations of different hosts and the mechanisms of disease establishment and spread.This book aims to address these limitations through enhanced knowledge of the biology and taxonomy of Ganoderma species. The use of molecular and biochemical methods can be used to provide a greater understanding of the spread of the pathogen, and consequently, the improved management of disease.

Since the identification of insect pheromones in the late 1950s, attention has often focused on the use of these potent behavior-modifying chemicals as pest control agents. Much of this interest has concentrated on Lepidoptera, particularly moths. In addressing this topic in other insect orders, this multi-author book fills this current gap in the literature. It presents research from leading authorities on the most important insect groups, and details the current progress of research in these areas. Applications of the research to agricultural systems around the world, and possible mechanisms for sustainable crop protection, are considered. This book is essential reading for students and researchers in entomology and crop protection.