Biological pest control alternatives pesticides

Although pesticides continue to be the major approach to boll weevil control, problems related to their use have led to a search for alternative forms of pest control. These Include chemicals that modify behavior and/or development, biological agents, and genetic manipulation. 

Kelly, T. J. Masler, E. P. Menn, J. J. In Proceedings of the IntT. Symposium on Pesticides and Alternative Innovative Chemical and Biological Approaches to Pest Control Casida, J. Ed. Elsevier Amsterdam, 1990 pp 283-97. 

We need to research how to use effectively our existing pesticides, how to conserve them, and how to fit them into new strategies for pest control. In the past it was difficult to consider the use of pheromones, other alternative controls, or biological controls of pests because there was no funding incentive for development. 

Finally, while alternative and complementary methods for pest control offer benefits under certain circumstances, they do not offer a panacea, and will not, in all probability, lead to a utopian, pesticide-free agriculture system. The best means of achieving optimisation in pesticide use and/or minimisation in chemical applications is the adoption of pragmatic approach based on a sound understanding of the chemistry, physics, biology and engineering involved in effective pest control. 

Novel pest control technologies based on natural products or products derived from biological processes appear to provide promising alternatives to conventional chemical pesticides. However, new techniques continue to receive a detailed scrutiny from regulatory authorities because of the lack of experience associated with their use. The impossibility of absolute guarantees that there would be no adverse, unanticipated effects on non-target organisms and the environment places innovators and policy makers in a difficult... 

OP pesticides still provide adequate control of key pests, while not upsetting biological control of certain secondary pests by their resistant predators and parasites (39). In those areas where the program is successful, the keys to success are monitoring for resistance in the species complex (e.g., among leafrollers, 40), rapid response to early signs of resistance (e.g., 41), maximum use of IPM and alternative control tactics other than pesticides (42), and the lack of resistance development in key pests such as the codling moth. 

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