BIOPESTICIDES

TOPIC: Agriculture

Context- As the government has changed the narrative towards a chemical-free farming, It needs to allow import of new tech in biopesticides’

Concept-

Biopesticides:

Biopesticides are biologically based agents used for the control of plant pests. They can be living organisms (nematodes or micro-organisms) or naturally occurring substances, such as plant extracts or insect pheromones.
Biopesticides are usually inherently less toxic than conventional pesticides.
Biopesticides generally affect only the target pest and closely related organisms, in contrast to broad spectrum, conventional pesticides that may affect organisms as different as birds, insects and mammals.
Biopesticides often are effective in very small quantities and often decompose quickly, resulting in lower exposures and largely avoiding the pollution problems caused by conventional pesticides.

Types of Biopesticides

Biochemical Pesticides: They are naturally occurring substances that control pests by non-toxic mechanisms.
- Biochemical pesticides include substances that interfere with mating, such as insect sex pheromones, as well as various scented plant extracts that attract insect pests to traps.
Microbial Pesticides: They consist of a microorganism (e.g. a bacterium, fungus, virus or protozoan) as the active ingredient.
- Microbial pesticides can control many different kinds of pests, although each separate active ingredient is relatively specific for its target pest(s).
- For example, there are fungi that control certain weeds and other fungi that kill specific insects.
- The most widely used microbial pesticides are subspecies and strains of Bacillus thuringiensis, or Bt.
Plant Incorporated Protectants: They are pesticidal substances that plants produce from genetic material that has been added to the plant.