Since our hunter–gatherer ancestors began to develop agriculture more than 10,000 years ago, farmers have been battling with Nature to protect their cultivated plants against pests and diseases. Organisms from all kingdoms of life—from mammals and insects to bacteria, fungi and viruses—are attracted by the easy pickings that large fields of plants represent, and farmers have sought to contain t...

In today's world, food security is an important issue. Food shortages push prices up, impacting upon the health and well-being of hundreds of millions of rural poor across the globe. One way to increase food security is to decrease the amount of yield lost to pests. This encyclopedia provides a comprehensive overview of the fight against pests, covering chemical pesticides, biocontrol agents an...

Litsea salicifolia is one of the many plants used as phytopesticide, traditionally by various tribes of Assam. Of the five extracts of L. salicifolia tested for the bioactivity against Aedes aegypti and Culex quinquefasciatus, the aqueous extract was more effective compared to other extracts exhibiting bioactivity at 72 ppm against A. aegypti. The hexane extract (2000 ppm) exhibited 70% repelle...

In today's world, food security is an important issue. Food shortages push prices up, impacting upon the health and well-being of hundreds of millions of rural poor across the globe. One way to increase food security is to decrease the amount of yield lost to pests. This encyclopedia provides a comprehensive overview of the fight against pests, covering chemical pesticides, biocontrol agents an...

Pest insects can damage agricultural crops, consume and/or damage harvested food, or transmit diseases to humans and animals. The past 30 years has witnessed a dramatic reemergence of epidemic vector-borne diseases throughout much of the world (Atkinson, 2010). Prior to the development and commercial success of synthetic insecticides in the mid1930s to 1950s, botanical insecticides were the for...