Chapter 1 - Intro to Vector and Pest Management

History

• In early age salt, smoke and insect repellent plants are used in keeping away organism and preserving food
• Summarians controlled insects and mite with sulphurs 5000 years ago
• Roman and Greeks use oil sprays, ash, sulphurs ointment and lime to protect themselves, livestock and crop pests.
• Roman also burned fields and rotated crops to reduce crop disesases
• Chinese controlled body lice and other pest with mercury and arsenic 2500 years ago
• Ducks and geese were used to catch insects and control weeds
• In Malaysia, cats were used to control and catch rats and mice

2 types of pest:-

Welcome Pest

• Bees, flies and butterflies - carry pollen from plant to plant and help to pollinate flowers and crops
• Ladybirds - eat caterpillars and aphides (greenflies and black flies) that kill plants
• Moth - moth caterpillars make silk used to make clothes
• Dung beetles - beetles and flies clean up animal droppings and the rotting bodies of dead animals
• Honey bee = provide honey to eat and beeswax to polish furniture

Unwelcome Pest

• Mosquitoes - spread diseases
• Bees, wasps and hornets - painful sting –dangerous to some people.
• Termites and woodworms - damage furniture and buildings.
• Colorado beetles - eat and ruin potato crops
• Locusts - gather in huge groups can eat all plants
• Cockroaches - infest food stores and spread germs
• Rodents - transmit diseases and destroy materials

Vector is any insect or arthropod, rodent or other animal which capable of causing discomfort injury or capable of harboring or trasmitting the causative agents of disease to humans or domestic animals.

Or in other word, vector is like a taxi. Which a transport. Example mosquitoes, cockroaches, flies, fleas and ticks are vectors of disease. Vector also carries a pathogen in it.

Pests are living things which can be troublesome or unwanted. Some pests are vectors because some of them can transmit disease and cause public health concern. Pests are in themselves the problem and usually refer to insects or animals that destroy crops.

Pest and Vector Control

Activities design to identify, reduce or eliminate pest or vector populations in given situation.

IPM (Integrated Pest Management)

Is a process involving common sense and sound solutions for treating and controlling pest.

Three basic step of IPM :-

1. Inspection
2. Identification
3. Treatment

Treatment options vary from sealing cracks and removing food and water sources to pesticide treatments when necessary.

"Optimum combination of control methods including biological, cultural, mechanical, physical and/or chemical controls to reduce pest populations to an economical acceptable level with as few harmful effects as possible on the environment and non-target organisms."

-R.L. Hix,CAAgric. Magazine, 55:4 (2001)

Control Method of IPM

• Physical control - fly screensor trapping
• Cultural control-improving ventilation, hygiene and sanitation
• Biological control-parasites or predators to eradicate a particular pest
• Chemical control-appropriate pesticide

Why do we use IPM?

• To prevent the spread of the disease
• To prevent the wastage of food
• To prevent damage of house, crops and many more

Law to Comply 

• Pesticides Act 1974 (Pest Control Operators) Rules 2004
• Plant Quarantine Act 1976
• Plant Quarantine Regulations 1981