Reduction in the Use of Pesticides through Biological and Environmental Monitoring

Agricultural pesticides when properly used can be highly effective for protection of plant and animal health. When misused, the environment as well as the agricultural community suffers. Because of the sporadic and often devastating occurrence of plant diseases and because of the development of very effective protectanttype pesticides, these are often used when the pathogen or conditions for infection are not present. For disease development, an interaction between a pathogen, susceptible plant, and the environment during a period of time is required. Monitoring of all or one of these parameters can help predict when infection and disease development are most likely to occur, thus more timely pesticide applications can be made. Two such monitoring systems are described; one is based on the monitoring of plant-parasitic nematode population levels, the other monitors the environmental parameters necessary for infection and disease development of peanut leafspot. Use of such systems should result in a healthier plant, agricultural economy, and environment. A healthy environment is usually thought of in context of its direct effects on humans. For a plant, a healthy environment could be considered one that surrounds the plant which does not allow plant disease to occur, or reduces the deterimental effects of the disease when it does occur. An agricultural environment includes biological, climatological, and chemical components. The susceptible plant and its pathogen(s) (biological components) must have the proper weather conditions, such as adequate moisture and temperature (climatic components), for the pathogen to grow, penetrate and successfully colonize the plant. In an agricultural