Pest control is at least as old as agriculture, as there has always been a need to keep crops free from pests. In order to maximize food production, it is advantageous to protect crops from competing species of plants, as well as from herbivores competing with humans. It is the Multidisciplinary nature of pesticide science that makes it quite interesting. It has applications in legislation, notification, registration; Agronomy, biology(taxonomy, life history,), chemistry(synthesis, formulation, residues, compatibility, metabolism), commerce(technical service, marketing, patenting, screening, field development),economics(cash flow, cost-benefit ratio), engineering(design of equipment, maintenance), medicine (toxicology, safety, antidotes), physics(droplets,monitoring,meteorology), ecology(modelling). General public is increasingly concerned about use of pesticides. But demand more food, cheap agricultural produce makes its use imperative. Welcome to the course.
In this unit we interact on pesticides types, chemistry, formulation, handling, storage, packaging, different uses, benefits and harmfulness, effects on human, animals , environment and other non-target living organisms, pesticides management, evaluation, recommendation, regulation, health aspects and safe disposal of pesticides after use.