Productivity of horticultural crops in India is relatively low compared to other countries. Of the several factors responsible for lower productivity of horticultural crops, pests (insect and mite pests) are considered as important limiting factors. Some pest problems (coconut mite, spiralling whitefly on fruit crops, coffee berry borer, diamond back moth on crucifers, serpentine leaf miners on several crops, fruit flies in fruits and cucurbits) are of national importance which causes significant losses to horticultural crops. The annual losses due to pests to all the crops in India was estimated at Rs.60,000 million in 1983, which at today's prices could exceed Rs.200,000 million. The excessive dependence on chemical pesticides leads to development of resistance in pests (insects, mites, nematodes and diseases), outbreak of secondary pests, toxicity towards natural enemies and occurrence of pesticide residues in food chain. Considering these limitations, there has been a growing awareness to develop biological control measures which brings about a reasonably good degree of pest reduction and at the same time ensure sustainability of production, cost effectiveness and healthy environment. Commercial scale production of biopesticides for the biological control of pests in the recent past has been quite intense. Several package of practices have been developed nationally and internationally for pest management using commercially available bio-inputs especially microorganisms. The efforts aimed at increasing the naturally occurring biotic agents against the pests, both quantitatively and qualitatively can be termed as biological control. The information on biomanagement of pests (insect and mite pests) in horticultural crops (fruits, vegetables, plantation, spice, tuber, ornamental, medicinal and aromatic crops) is very much scattered. There is no book at present which comprehensively and exclusively deals with the above aspects on horticultural crops. The present book deals with management of pests in horticultural crops in detail using biological (predators, parasitoids and pathogens-fungi, bacteria and viruses) and integrated methods (bioagents, botanicals, insecticides). The book is extensively illustrated with excellent quality photographs enhancing the quality of publication. The book is written in lucid style, easy to understand language along with adoptable recommendations involving eco-friendly components of IPM.
