Order of the National Green Tribunal in the matter of In Re: News Item titled "Nayar river is vanishing - a yatra reveals conservation goes beyond science and policy" appearing in ‘The Down To Earth’ dated 03.06.2025. The original application was registered suo-motu based on the news item titled "Nayar …
The Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, (MoAFW) on September 01, 2023, published the Draft Insecticides (Sixth Amendment) Rules, 2023 to further amend the Insecticides Rules, 1971. The following has been stated namely: In rule 10 which states “Licence for sale, etc., of insecticides” in clause (iii) of sub-rule (3A): …
Locusts exhibit two interconvertible behavioral phases, solitarious and gregarious. While solitarious individuals are repelled from other locusts, gregarious insects are attracted to conspecifics and can form large aggregations such as marching hopper bands. Numerous biological experiments at the individual level have shown how crowding biases conversion towards the gregarious form. …
The insecticides we use for agriculture and for vector control often arrive in water bodies, where mosquito larvae may be exposed to them. Not only will they then likely affect the development of the larvae, but their effects may carry over to the adults, potentially affecting their capacity at transmitting …
An attempt was made to understand the influence of climate change on future potential distribution of Oriental fruit fly (OFF), Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel), a polyphagous pest on a wide variety of fruit crops in India. Original Source
In view of awareness toward nature-friendly management of plant diseases, the need of integration and use of indigenous knowledge (IK) with modern biological control measures has been emphasized. In view of new insights being generated it is accentuated to reassess the system of sustainable plant disease management. One farmer-inspired indigenous …
Azadirachta indica A. Juss. (Meliaceae), popularly known as neem, is a wellrecognized tree. Despite its insecticidal properties, neem in the Indian subcontinent is known to be infested by insect pests. In November 2009, mature neem trees in the village of Bhauli, Bakshi ka Talab, Lucknow, started defoliating and soon consumed …
A group of scientists have confirmed the first report of an egg parasitoid Telenomus remus in Africa which could prove an important biological weapon in the fight against the devastating fall armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda) that threatens the food security of more than 200 million people. Dr Marc Kenis, Head of …
Fall armyworm,Spodoptera frugiperda(J E Smith), an economically important pest native to tropical and sub-tropical America has recently invaded Africa, causing substantial damage to maize and other crops. We eval-uated functionality of a companion cropping system,‘climate-adapted push-pull’, developed for control of cerealstemborers in drier agro-ecologies, as an added tool for the …
Biological control provided by natural enemies play an important role in integrated pest management. Generalist insect predators provide an important biological service in the regulation of agricultural insect pests. Our goal is to understand the explicit process of oviposition preference, habitat selection and feeding behavior of predators in farmland ecosystem …
Biodiversity of insects is threatened worldwide. Here, we present a comprehensive review of 73 historical reports of insect declines from across the globe, and systematically assess the underlying drivers. Our work reveals dramatic rates of decline that may lead to the extinction of 40% of the world's insect species over …
The study aimed to document and assess local knowledge on the use of insecticidal and insect repellent plants to manage disease-transmitting, nuisance and crop pests in Raya-Azebo district of Tigray region of Ethiopia. Ethnobotanical data were collected through semi-structured interviews conducted with purposively selected informants. Simple preference ranking exercises were …
In Uttarakhand Himalaya traditional agriculture is the mere way to meet the subsistence needs of the local farming communities. In traditional system of agriculture, local seed material of traditional crop varieties plays an important role for crop production. In such a situation, the protection of seed material and its conservation …
Potato type I and II serine protease inhibitors are produced by solanaceous plants as a defense mechanism against insects and microbes. Nicotiana alata proteinase inhibitor (NaPI) is a multidomain potato type II inhibitor (pin II) that is produced at high levels in the female reproductive tissues of the ornamental tobacco, …
The health effects of a Roundup-tolerant NK603 genetically modified (GM) maize (from 11% in the diet), cultivated with or without Roundup application and Roundup alone (from 0.1 ppb of the full pesticide containing glyphosate and adjuvants) in drinking water, were evaluated for 2 years in rats. This study constitutes a …
Glyphosate is a herbicide that is liable to be used in the extensive cultivation of glyphosate-tolerant cultivars. The potential accumulation of the relative effect of glyphosate on the rhizobacterial communities of glyphosate-tolerant maize has been monitored over a period of three years. Original Source
Recent rapid evolution and spread of resistance to the most extensively used herbicide, glyphosate, is a major threat to global crop production. Genetic mechanisms by which weeds evolve resistance to herbicides largely determine the level of resistance and the rate of evolution of resistance. In a previous study, we determined …
A Bill to regulate the import, manufacture, export, storage, sale, transport, distribution, quality and use of pesticides with a view to— control pests; ensure availability of quality pesticides; allow its use only after assessing its efficacy and safety; minimize the contamination of agricultural commodities by pesticide residues; create awareness among …
DEHRADUN: Experts met at the Forest Research Institute (FRI) to deliberate on ways technological intervention can boost green cover and mitigate climate change. The meeting was held in the city on the direction of environment ministry on Monday. According to Dr Savita, FRI director, Global Technology Watch Group (GTWG) and …
To cause plant disease, pathogenic fungi can secrete effector proteins into plant cells to suppress plant immunity and facilitate fungal infection. Most fungal pathogens infect plants using very long strand-like cells, called hyphae, that secrete effectors from their tips into host tissue. How fungi undergo long-distance cell signalling to regulate …
The Mediterranean fruit fly (medfly, Ceratitis capitata Wiedemann) is a pest of over 300 fruits, vegetables and nuts. The sterile insect technique (SIT) is a control measure used to reduce the reproductive potential of populations through the mass release of sterilized male insects that mate with wild females. However, SIT …
