How Integrated Pest Management can protect your Soybean farm from threats?

Legume family crop, Soybean is widely grown edible bean all over the world. Soybean is used to make many food products such as soy milk, soy flour, soy oil, tofu, soy chunks etc., and many tasty dishes can be prepared from soy products.

But, just like we humans, Pests also love it… And they can damage your soy farming.

Over the past 50 years, Soy production has increased and the intensity of pests that threaten the yield has also increased. At many places where soybean is grown every other year, pests have increased in density, and in turn cause losses in yield and overall economic loss. Many pests such as flies, beetles, caterpillars and other parasitic microorganisms can cause too much damage to soy crop.

Major pests on Soy crop are-

1. Tobacco caterpillar

2. Stem fly

3. White fly

4. Green semiloopers

5. Gridle beetle

To protect our soy crop from these pests, we use Integrated Pest Management Approach (IPM).

Firstly, let’s understand what is IPM?

According to the definition given by Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in 1967, “Integrated Pest Management is a pest management system that, in context of the associated environment and the population dynamics of the pest species, utilizes all suitable techniques and methods in a compatible manner as possible and maintains the pest populations at levels below those causing economically unacceptable damage of loss.”

This approach neither uses full organic method, nor full chemical method. It is the best combination of chemical, biological and cultural methods.

Now, let us understand, how to protect our soybean from above written pests through IPM approach?

This is a step by step process involving Pest monitoring, Disease monitoring, Data recording and then finally the solution i.e., Pest management processes.

For our soybean crop pest management, following are the solutions.

Cultural practice management

This involves all the cultural practices to be done properly including, cleaning of the infected field properly if there are any residues of last crop pests followed by deep ploughing, fertilizer application, seed treatment and then sowing Intercropping can be done to protect the soy crop from pests.

1. Fertilizer dose- NPK and S – 20:60-80:30-40:20 kg/ha

2. Seed treatment- Trichoderma viridae @ 5g or Thiram 37.5% + carboxin 37.5% DS @ 3g/kg seed followed by seed treatment with Bradyrhizobium.

3. Seed rate- optimum seed rate 65-75 kg/ha

Genetic management

Pest resistant varieties can be used for the protection from pest.

Source- NIPHM

Chemical management

This management involves use of pesticides.

Source- NIPHM

Mechanical control method can also be used by collecting pests and some other measures. And for management of diseases, Biological control method can also be used.

So, this is how you can protect your soybean farm from pests using different ways of IPM approach. For more information like this, Stay connected…!!