DOCSLIB.ORG

Asia Notes a Regional Supplement To

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Asia Notes a Regional Supplement To A Regional Supplement to Asia Notes ECHO Development Notes Edited by Abram Bicksler and Rebecca Garofano June 2015 | Issue 24 Neem for Sustainable Pest Management and Environemntal Conservation Featured in this AN by Ramesh C. Saxena, Ph.D.,Chairman, Neem Foundation 1 Neem for Sustainable Pest [Editor’s Note: Dr. Ramesh C. Saxena is a world-renowned scientist and Neem expert and Management and Environ- Chairman of the Neem Foundation in Bombay, India. This article is gratefully reprinted mental Conservation from a forthcoming book about the usefulness of the Neem tree entitled “Neem: Nature’s Healing Gift to Humanity,” compiled and edited by Klaus Ferlow of the Neem Research 12 Tricho-Composting in organization of Canada.] Bangladesh Abstract 16 ECHO Asia Agriculture & To be sustainable, agricultural processes, including pest and vector management must be Community Development efficient (effective and economically rewarding), ecologically sound (for long term stability), Conference: equitable (in providing social justice), and ethical (in respecting both future generations and other species). Basic and applied research conducted over the past three decades have shown that the use of natural and enriched neem (Azadirachta indica) products can provide a key component in ensuring sustainable integrated pest and vector management. The formi- dable array of more than 100 bioactive compounds in the neem tree makes it a unique plant with potential applications in pest and vector management. Unlike toxic synthetic insecti- cides, neem materials do not kill the pest, but incapacitate or neutralize it via cumulative behavioral, physiological, and cytological effects. In spite of high selectivity, neem materials affect more than 500 species of insect pests, phytophagous mites, mites, and ticks affecting man and animals, parasitic protozoans, noxious mollusks, plant parasitic nematodes, patho- genic fungi, and harmful bacteria and fungi. Results of large-scale field trials have illustrated the value of neem-based pest management for enhancing crop productivity. Neem is useful as windbreaks and in areas of low rainfall and high wind speed, it can protect crops from desiccation. Neem trees are being planted on a large scale in southern China and Brazil. Neem has also been grown in Australia, in many countries in Africa, Latin America, Caribbean islands, etc. Neem has much to offer in solving agricultural and public health problems, espe- cially in rural areas. Increased awareness of the potential of neem tree by creating awareness of its potential would go a long way in promoting its acceptance for pest management and improvement of plant health, animal health, human health, and environmental health. Introduction the application of sustainable production methods, by improving tolerance of crops The global population is now 7.3 billion. to adverse environmental conditions, and Providing adequate food entitlements, by reducing crop and post-harvest losses safeguarding public health, meeting fuel caused by pests and diseases. Appropriate and firewood needs, and at the same time technologies, which do not assault nature, preventing deforestation, conserving the will have key roles to play in ensuring food environment, and slowing down the popu- security, in improving public and animal lation growth will be daunting challenges health, and in rehabilitating the environ- The ECHO Asia Impact Center in the coming decades. Although “green ment to safeguard the wellbeing of future revolution technologies” have more than generations. Instead of striving for more operates under ECHO, a non-profit doubled the yield potential of cereals, espe- “green revolutions” with emphasis on Christian organization that helps cially rice and wheat in India, these high miracle seeds, hard-hitting synthetic and you help the poor to produce food -input production systems requiring large engineered pesticides, and increased use in the developing world. quantities of fertilizers, pesticides, irriga- of fertilizers, the future must look to natural tion, and machines disregard the ecolog- ways and processes for augmenting agri- ECHO Asia Impact Center ical integrity of land, forests, and water cultural productivity. In fact, all develop- resources, endanger the flora and fauna, ment efforts and activities, including pest PO Box 64 and cannot be sustained over generations. management, should be within well-defined Chiang Mai 50000 Thailand Future food security and economic develop- ecological rules rather than within narrow [email protected] ment will depend on improving the produc- economic gains. Sustainable agricultural www.ECHOcommunity.org tivity of biophysical resources through systems must be efficient (i.e. effective and economically rewarding) and ecologi- Neem, however, is unsuited to growing in cally sound for long-term food sufficiency, cooler and mountainous areas (>1000 m). equitable in providing social justice, ethical in respecting both future generations and Neem is an evergreen, tall, fast-growing other species, and lead to employment and tree, which can reach a height of 25m and income-generating opportunities. For India 2.5m in girth. It has an attractive crown of and other countries, the use of neem may deep-green foliage (which can spread 10 provide a key component in more sustain- m across) and masses of honey-scented able agricultural systems, including pest flowers. The tree thrives even on nutri- and nutrient management, animal health, ent-poor dry soil. It tolerates high to very human health, and environmental conser- high temperatures, low rainfall, long spells vation. of drought, and salinity. It is propagated by seed; 9 to 12 month-old seedlings trans- plant well. Birds and bats also disperse Why Neem? the seed. Fruiting begins in 3 to 5 years. Neem, a member of the Meliaceae In the Indian sub-continent, neem flowers family, is a botanical cousin of mahogany. from Jan through Apr and fruits mature According to a report of an ad hoc panel of from May to Aug. In coastal Kenya, fruiting the Board on Science and Technology for occurs in March and April; some off types International Development, “this plant may also fruit in Nov or Dec. The fruit is about 2 usher in a new era in pest control, provide cm long, and when ripe, has a yellow fleshy millions with inexpensive medicines, cut pericarp, a white hard shell, and a brown, down the rate of human population growth oil-rich seed kernel. Fruit yields range from and even reduce erosion, deforestation, 30 to 100 kg per tree, depending on rainfall, and the excessive temperature of an over- insolation, soil type, and neem ecotype or heated globe” (National Research Council genotype. Fifty kg of fresh fruit yields 30 kg 1992). Neem’s other descriptions, such of seed, which gives 6 kg of oil and 24 kg of as “nature’s bitter boon,” “nature’s gift to seed cake. Seed viability ranges from 6 to mankind,” “the tree for many an occa- 8 weeks, but thoroughly cleaned and prop- sion,” “the tree that purifies,” “the wonder erly dried and cooled seeds remain viable tree,” “the tree of the 21st century,” and up to 6 months. Propagation by stumps “a tree for solving global problems,” are and stem cuttings also is practiced. Plant- recognition of its versatility. Its botanic lets, produced by tissue culturing, have name, Azadirachta indica, derived from also been used for propagation with partial Farsi,”azad darakht-i-hindi” literally means success. the “free or noble tree of India,” suggesting Neem is bitter in taste. The bitterness is that it is literally free from pest and disease due to the presence of an array of complex problems and is benign to the environment. compounds called “triterpenes” or more Neem’s Sanskritized name “Arishtha” specifically, “limonoids.” More than 100 means the reliever of sickness. In East unique bioactive compounds have been African Kiswahili language, neem is known isolated from various parts of the neem tree; as “Mwarubaini,” meaning the reliever of 40 still more are being isolated. This formi- disorders. dable array of highly bio-active compounds Neem is native to Myanmar and the arid makes neem a unique plant with potential regions of the Indian sub-continent, where applications in agriculture, animal care, it has almost been semi-domesticated. public health, and for even regulating even During the last century, neem was intro- human fertility. The limonoids in neem duced in arid zones of Africa. Today, it is belong to nine basic structure groups: azad- grown in many Asian countries, in tropical irone (from oil), amoorastatin (from fresh regions of the New World, in several Carib- leaves), vepinin (from seed oil), vilasinin bean and in some Mediterranean countries. (from green leaves), gedunin (from seed oil During the past three decades, neem was and bark), nimbin (from leaves and seed), introduced and planted on a large scale in nimbolin (from kernel), and salannin (from Australia, in the Philippines, and also in leaves and seed), and the aza group (from the Plains of Arafat near Meccah in Saudi neem seed). Azadirachtin and its analogs Arabia, regions ecologically highly diverse. have fascinated researchers for the past 40 Over the past decade, more than 25 million years because of phagorepellency, growth neem trees have been grown in southern inhibition, and chemosterilizing effects on China, particularly in Yunnan province. In insect pests (Saxena 1989, Schmutterer all these regions, the tree is thriving - a 1990, 2002). The azadirachtin content testimony to its hardiness and adaptability. in neem could vary considerably due to edaphic, climatic, or genotypic differences. From top to bottom: Leaves, seeds, flowers, and trunk of the neem tree. 2 . Neem for Eco-friendly Table 1. Comparative rice tungro virus (RTV) control, grain yield, and net gain in ricefields sprayed Sustainable Pest Management with neem oil-custard apple oil (NO-CAO) mixture or an insecticide (BPMC) (Abdul Kareem et al. 1987)1 Crop Pests Net gain Value of yield Cost of trea- (value of yield Treatment RTV (%) Yield (t/ha) Pest control as practiced today in most (US$) ment (US$) less cost of developing countries relies mainly on the treatment) use of imported pesticides.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • A Narrative Review of the Facts and Perspectives on Agricultural Fertilization in Europe, with a Focus on Italy
    horticulturae Review A Narrative Review of the Facts and Perspectives on Agricultural Fertilization in Europe, with a Focus on Italy Arianna Latini 1,* , Germina Giagnacovo 1, Carlo Alberto Campiotti 1, Carlo Bibbiani 2 and Susanna Mariani 1 1 Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development (ENEA), Energy Efficiency Department, Casaccia Research Center, 00123 Rome, Italy; [email protected] (G.G.); [email protected] (C.A.C.); [email protected] (S.M.) 2 Department of Veterinary Sciences, University of Pisa, 56126 Pisa, Italy; [email protected] * Correspondence: [email protected] Abstract: Fertilizers stand at the base of current agricultural practices, providing the nutrient sus- tainment required for growing plants. Most fertilizers are synthetic chemicals, whose exploitation at very high levels poses a risk to cultivated land and the whole environment. They have several drawbacks including soil degradation, water pollution, and human food safety. Currently, the urgent need to counterbalance these negative environmental impacts has opened the way for the use of natural and renewable products that may help to restore soil structure, microorganism communities, nutrient elements, and, in some cases, to positively enhance carbon soil sequestration. Here, we endeavor to reinforce the vision that effective strategies designed to mitigate negative anthropic and climate change impacts should combine, in appropriate proportions, solutions addressed to a lower Citation: Latini, A.; Giagnacovo, G.; and less energy intensive production of chemicals and to a more inclusive exploitation of renewable Campiotti, C.A.; Bibbiani, C.; Mariani, natural products as biological soil amendments. After drawing an overview of the agricultural energy S.
    [Show full text]
  • Neem Tree (Azadirachta Indica A. Juss) As Source of Bioinsectides
    18 Neem Tree (Azadirachta indica A. Juss) as Source of Bioinsectides Marcello Nicoletti1, Oliviero Maccioni2, Tiziana Coccioletti2, Susanna Mariani2 and Fabio Vitali2 1Department of Environmental Biology - University Sapienza of Rome, Roma, 2ENEA C.R. Casaccia – S. Maria di Galeria (Roma), Italy 1. Introduction The interest in developing pesticides of natural origins has increased during recent years, because of the drawback of synthetic chemical pesticides, like impact on environment, toxicity to non target organisms including humans, resistance development in insect population. Furthermore, other considerations emerged, including low cost, renewable raw material, like wasting, interest for a possible individual use in urban area. In this paper attention was focused on products of neem tree, Azadiractha indica (A. Juss, 1830), and in particular on neem cake, the by-product obtained in the cold-pressed process of neem oil production. Actually neem cake marketed products are not used as pesticides, but mainly as fertilizers. Data on their compositions and insecticidal activity are lacking. Studies on marketed neem cake products made by HPTLC and HPLC analyses showed differences in their compositions, in particular on limonoids. Once determined limonoid contents in extracts of increasing polarity, these contents were related to larvicidal activity on Asian tiger mosquito, Aedes albopictus (Skuse, 1894). The aim of the reported studies is check the possibility of developing a new domestic insecticide using neem cake as raw material, in particular against biting mosquitos present in urban areas. 2. Micro vs. macro competing for life Microorganims are difficult to find and to kill, because they are in enormous number and everywhere. For instance, in our body we can count more procariotic than eucariotic cells.
    [Show full text]
  • Neem Oil and Neem Cake Production Business
    Y_1474 www.entrepreneurindia.co Introduction The material left after oil is squeezed out from seeds and is popularly known as the seed cake; it acts as a bio fertilizer and helps in providing the required nutrients to plants. It is widely used to ensure a high yield of crops. Neem oil is a vegetable oil pressed from the fruits and seeds of the Neem tree, Azadirachta indica, which is endemic to the Indian sub- continent and has been introduced to many other areas in the tropics Neem seed oil can also be obtained by solvent extraction of the neem seed, fruit, oilcake or kernel. www.entrepreneurindia.co Neem oil is a naturally occurring pesticide found in seeds from the neem tree. It is yellow to brown, has a bitter taste, and a garlic/sulfur smell. It has been used for hundreds of years to control pests and diseases. Components of neem oil can be found in many products today. These include toothpaste, cosmetics, soaps, and pet shampoos. Neem oil is a mixture of components. Azadirachtin is the most active component for repelling and killing pests and can be extracted from neem oil. The portion left over is called clarified hydrophobic neem oil. Neem cake organic manure protects plant roots from nematodes, soil grubs and white ants probably due to its residual limonoid content. It also acts as a natural fertilizer with pesticidal properties. Neem cake is widely used in India to fertilize paddy, cotton and sugarcane. www.entrepreneurindia.co Neem cake organic manure is the by-product obtained in the process of cold pressing of neem tree fruits and kernels, and the solvent extraction process for neem oil cake.
    [Show full text]
  • Impact of Agrochemicals on Soil Microbiota and Management: a Review
    land Review Impact of Agrochemicals on Soil Microbiota and Management: A Review Ram Swaroop Meena 1,2 , Sandeep Kumar 3, Rahul Datta 4,*, Rattan Lal 2, Vinod Vijayakumar 5 , Martin Brtnicky 4 , Mahaveer Prasad Sharma 6, Gulab Singh Yadav 2,7, Manoj Kumar Jhariya 8 , Chetan Kumar Jangir 3, Shamina Imran Pathan 9, Tereza Dokulilova 4, Vaclav Pecina 4 and Theodore Danso Marfo 10 1 Department of Agronomy, Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi 221 005, India; [email protected] 2 Carbon Management and Sequestration Centre, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA; [email protected] (R.L.); [email protected] (G.S.Y.) 3 ICAR-National Academy of Agricultural Research Management (NAARM), Hyderabad 500030, India; [email protected] (S.K.); [email protected] (C.K.J.) 4 Department of Agrochemistry, Soil Science, Microbiology and Plant Nutrition, Faculty of Agrisciences, Mendel University in Brno, Zemedelska 1, Brno 61300, Czech Republic; [email protected] (M.B.); [email protected] (T.D.); [email protected] (V.P.) 5 College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA; [email protected] 6 Microbiology Laboratory, ICAR-Indian Institute of Soybean Research, Khandwa Road, Indore (MP) 452001, India; [email protected] 7 ICAR Research Complex for NEH Region, Lembucherra 799210, India 8 Department of Farm Forestry, University Teaching Department, Sant Gahira Guru Vishwavidyalaya (Formerly, Sarguja
    [Show full text]
  • Chapter 1 General Introduction
    (T =\ CHAPTER 1 GENERAL INTRODUCTION V J PART A: INTRODUCTION TO NEEM. In the past few decades, the green revolution technologies have put forward high-input production systems that disregard the ecological integrity of land, forests, water resources and endanger the biota. These technologies have more than doubled the yield of food grains, especially in the developing countries. However, more than 20,000 pest species destroy one third of the food production annually This amounts to losses of over one billion US dollars. Thus, the economic future of the developing countries will depend to a great extent on improving the productivity of the natural resources through the application of sustainable production methods and by improving tolerance of crops to adverse environmental conditions. In addition, control of post harvest losses caused by pests and diseases is of utmost importance. Pest control, as practiced today in most of the developing countries relies mainly on use of imported technologies for the manufacture of synthetic pesticides like pyrethroids. However, use of synthetic pesticides is being increasingly objected by the environmentalists all over the world due to its short term and long term harmful effects on the environment as well as the public health. As these pesticides are not biodegradable, their residues lead to contamination of terrestrial and aquatic environments, damage to beneficial insects and wild biota, accidental poisoning of humans and livestock, and the twin problems of pest resurgence and resistance. Pest resistance is increasingly becoming a serious threat to sustainability of agricultural production systems. For these reasons, there is a need for pest control agents that are pest- specific, non-toxic to humans and beneficial organisms, biodegradable, less prone to pest resistance and resurgence and relatively less expensive.
    [Show full text]
  • Neem As an Organic Plant Protectant in Agriculture
    Journal of Pharmacognosy and Phytochemistry 2019; 8(3): 4176-4184 E-ISSN: 2278-4136 P-ISSN: 2349-8234 JPP 2019; 8(3): 4176-4184 Neem as an organic plant protectant in Received: 25-03-2019 Accepted: 27-04-2019 agriculture Usharani KV Soil Health and Analytical Usharani KV, Dhananjay Naik and Manjunatha RL Department, Dscign Biosys Pvt. Ltd. Cashew Factory, Abstract Kumbalagodu Industrial Area Neem plant is considered as the most useful traditional plant in India. The various properties of different 2nd Phase, Bangalore, Karnataka, parts of neem tree are used mainly as insecticide, fertilizer, manure, soil conditioner, urea coating agent, India fumigant etc. in recent era the major challenge is to increase the food production without harming the Dhananjay Naik environment and can control the pest. Since, last decades pesticides have become an integral component Soil Health and Analytical in sustainable agriculture and the modern cultural practices like use of chemical pesticides and fertilizers Department, Dscign Biosys Pvt. are in eliminable. The natural pesticides from Azadirachta indica are considered as less harmful, Ltd. Cashew Factory, biodegradable, least persistence, less toxic to non-target organism and also economic. Fruitful results of Kumbalagodu Industrial Area application of formulated neem based products in agriculture will provide a cost effective technology to 2nd Phase, Bangalore, Karnataka, the farming community. India Keywords: Neem, biofertilizers, sustainable, agriculture Manjunatha RL Soil Health and Analytical Department, Dscign Biosys Pvt. 1. Introduction Ltd. Cashew Factory, Neem (Azadirachta indica) commonly called ‘Indian Lilac’ and belongs to the family Kumbalagodu Industrial Area Meliaceae, subfamily Meloideae and tribe Melieae. Neem is an evergreen, tall, fast-growing 2nd Phase, Bangalore, Karnataka, tree, which a height of 25m and 2.5m in girth which has an attractive crown of deep green India foliage and honey scented flowers).
    [Show full text]