“Crop Protection Management is both a preharvesting and a post harvesting affair”. Illustrate the statement with suitable example.

Ans. (A) Crop protection in fields: Field crops are infested by a large number of weeds, insect, pests and diseases. If these are not controlled at the appropriate time, then they can damage the crops so much that most of the crop is lost.Weeds, insects and diseases can be controlled by various methods such as:

(i) Use of pesticides : It includes herbicides, insecticides and fungicides. These chemicals are sprayed on crop plants or used for treating seeds and soil.

(ii) Weed control methods: It includes mechanical removal of weeds.

(iii) Preventive methods : (a) Proper seed bed preparation, timely sowing of crops, intercropping and crop-rotation methods also help in weed control.

(b) Some other preventive measures against pests are the use of resistant varieties and summer ploughing, in which fields are ploughed deep in summers to destroy weeds and pests.

(B) Crop protection in store house: It includes the following factors:

(i) Biotic factors: Insects, rodents, fungi, mites, bacteria.

(ii) Abiotic factors : Moisture content, humidity and temperature.

These factors cause degradation in quality, loss in weight, decolourisation of grains and poor germinability of seeds.

> Controlling measures :

(a) Strict cleaning of the produce before storage.

(b) Proper drying of the produce first in sunlight and then in shade.

(c) Fumigation to kill the pests.

(d) Cleaning of the warehouse and checking the biotic factors like insects, rodents, fungi, mites and bacteria.

(e) Taking care of abiotic factors like inappropriate moisture and temperature control in the storage.

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