Pest management in pulses under rice-wheat crop diversification

Concerted research and developmental efforts supported by government policies brought a paradigm shift in favour of rice-wheat cropping system (RWCS) in the last three decades in the Indian Indo-Gangetic plain (IGP). This shift has relegated traditional pulses such as chickpea and lentil to less favourable environments. There are increasing concerns that high input rice-wheat cropping rotation in the IGP is reaching productivity limit, and further that the edaphic resource base is under threat due to various degradation process. As the sustainability of such input systems is increasingly under question throughout the IGP, it has become necessary to readdress, and further rehabilitate pulses for the sustainability of the RWCS. However, the evidences revealed that pulses are prone to several abiotic, biotic and socio economic constraints in augmenting their production. Among biotic constraints important ones are diseases and insect pests. Together these two biotic constraints can cause a total loss to a pulse crop. Enormous opportunities exist for production of pulses with integrated pest management (IPM) in the RWCS, such as short duration mungbean as a summer crop, pigeonpea in rotation with rice, and chickpea and lentil in rotation with wheat. It is, therefore, critical to delineate the promising niches in the RWCS for each pulse crop and introduce appropriate IPM technology with available components of pest management. Also, there is a need to create a favourable environment for pulse culti vanon and IPM promotion through policy support. This paper critically examines the niches for rehabilitation of pulses and promotion of IPM for sustainability of the RWCS