Insect Pest Management: Mechanical and Physical Techniques

Abstract

In order to survive and thrive in nature, every organism interacts with the ecosystem’s components, including insect pests. In most situations, the interaction of insects and pests with the ecosystem is detrimental and necessitates control measures. Successful and sustained pest control in agroecosystems is dependent on understanding of the approach, pest biology, and pest ecology. There are occasions when a farmer must use pesticides to control a pest infestation, but there are also numerous non-chemical options. Some of these options are classified as mechanical and physical controlling approaches. Physical and mechanical control measures, which are the oldest of all tactics used directly against pests, kill the pest, interrupt their usual behavior, or alter the environment to discourage pest activity. They are one-of-a-kind in that they have no or minimal negative environmental impacts and leave no residue on agricultural goods. Unlike pesticides, there is no need for official regulation/registration, which would necessitate millions of dollars in research to fulfill environmental and animal toxicity, food safety, and effectiveness criteria. This study has merely highlighted the most important findings in past and recent research on physical and mechanical insect pest management techniques.