The book emphasizes the importance of an integrated pest and disease management on oilseed crops. IPM is an ecosystem-based strategy that focuses on long-term prevention of pests or their damage through a combination of techniques such as biological control, habitat manipulation, modification of cultural practices, and use of resistant varieties. The use of pesticides made it possible to increase yields, simplify cropping systems, and forego more complicated crop protection strategies. Over-reliance on chemical control, however, is associated with contamination of ecosystems and undesirable health effects. The future of crop production is now also threatened by emergence of pest resistance and declining availability of active substances. There is therefore a need to design cropping systems less dependent on synthetic pesticides. Here, we propose to farmers, advisors, and researchers a dynamic and flexible approach that accounts for the diversity of farming situations and the complexities of agro-ecosystems and that can improve the resilience of cropping systems and our capacity to adapt crop protection to local realities.

Dr. Saurav Gupta, presently working as Scientist/SMS Entomology at Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Samba of SKUAST, Jammu, India. He did his Ph.D (Entomology) from Sher-e- Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences & Technology of Jammu (J&K), India in 2007. He has joined as Assistant Professor/Scientist (Entomology) in the Division of Entomology, SKUAST-Kashmir in May, 2010 and where he remained for more than four years, then he got mutually transferred to SKUAST-J where he was posted at Regional Agricultural Research Station Rajouri and worked as Scientist for more than 4 and half years, then he was transferred to Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Kathua where he worked as Scientist/SMS, Entomology. Dr Saurav Gupta has vast experience and expertise in Apiculture, Economic Entomology, Applied Entomology, Biological Control and Pest Management. He was awarded with Life Fellow of “The Entomological Society of India, New Delhi” on 2014. He is an Associate Editor and reviewer of “International Journal of Agriculture Sciences”. He has several publications to his credit which includes research papers, technical bulletins, extension folders, practical manuals and book chapters published in reputed national/international journals and books. He has delivered several lectures on pest management of field crops, vegetable crops, oilseed crops, cereal crops and tropical and temperate fruit crops to promote and enhance the adoptability of Integrated Pest Management.