Page 1 - 2. Lesson_notes_-Crop_protection_management

SAI International School
Subject- Biology, Class-IX
Chapter- Improvement in Food Resources
Subtopic- Crop Protection Management
Module- 17
Lesson Notes

CROP PROTECTION MANAGEMENT

• Crop protection is the science and practice of managing plant diseases, weeds

and other pests that damage field crops (maize, wheat, rice, etc.), vegetable
crops (potatoes, cabbages, etc.) and fruits.

• The crops in field are exposed to many factors. The crop plants may be

damaged by insects, birds, rodents, bacteria, etc.
1. Weed and their control

Weeds are unwanted plants in the cultivated field. For example, Xanthium
(Gokhroo), Amaranthus (Chaulai), etc.

How are weeds harmful to main crop?

• They compete for food, space, light and essential nutrients thereby reducing
the growth of the main crop.

• They promote the attack by crop pests and diseases by acting as alternate host

to insects and microorganisms.
• During harvesting, weeds get mixed up with crop to lower down its quality.

Methods of weed control

Weeds can be controlled by following methods:
Mechanical methods: These include uprooting, weeding with trowel or khurpi,

hand hoeing (scrapping), interculture, ploughing, burning, and flooding.
Culture methods: They include proper bed preparation, timely sowing of crops,

intercropping and crop rotation.
Chemical methods: Destroying the weeds by spraying special chemicals called

weedicides, like, 2,4- D (2,4-dichlorophenoxy acetic acid), MCPA (2-methyl, 4-

chlorophenoxy acetic acid), Atrazine and Butachlor.
Biological methods: It involves the deliberate use of insects or some other

organisms which consume and specifically destroy the weed plants. For
example, cochineal insects are used to eradicate the weeds called Opuntia

(prickly pear).