Integrated pest management in tea: recent advances and future challenges# Babu Azariah1,* 1Tea Research Association, North Bengal Regional R & D Centre, Nagrakata735225, West Bengal, India *Email: Azariah.babu@gmail.com
#Invited Review for the National Symposium on Entomology 2018: Advances and Challenges, held at Hyderabad, 10-12 December 2018 ABSTRACT Tea, Camellia sinensis (L.) O. Kuntze, is a perennial plantation crop and grown as a monoculture on large contiguous area of about 5.79 lakh ha in India. The major insect pests of tea include hemipteran mosquito bugs, lepidopteran tortricids, geometrid loopers, coleopteran scolytid shot-hole borer and scale insects. Besides insects, mites and root knot nematodes are important. This review provides a brief account of major pests of tea in Indian context, enlists strategies for sustainable IPM and underline the major challenges in view of pest diversity, climate change and sensitive nature of the produce with high export value. Top Keywords Tea, IPM strategies, Challenges, Tea mosquito bug, Tortricids, Geometrid, Shot hole borer, Scale insects, Diversity, Climate change. Top |