Sustainable Management Strategies and Biological Control in Apple Orchards - Indian Perspective

Sustainable horticultural practices address the global issues of food security, pest and disease management, soil health, water pollution, depletion of biodiversity etc. with environment-friendly approaches. Increasingly, the adoption of such strategies is benefitting agricultural production including in orchards. Even though several strategies such as Integrated Pest Management (IPM), disease and weed mitigation have been in use for the elimination of pests, diseases and weeds in apple orchards, they are still not the most favoured methods of control. There are various economic and acceptance concerns regarding their use, particularly in developing nations like India. A more viable system for apple orchards management, thus, should be adopted. Here, we review various different approaches, including sustainable biocontrol methods, employed in the apple orchards. Use of genetically engineered pest-resistant varieties, bio-pesticides, plant-derived insecticides, sanitation methods and adoption of technology for evaluating the accuracy of these methods as well as monitoring of orchards are some of the management strategies included in the study. Further, conventional biocontrol practices, such as engaging natural enemies of harmful pests, use of companion plants or setting up of hedges and windbreaks for enhancing beneficial pest populations, application of compost for improving soil health and interplanting are also employed. Sustainable IPM methodologies can be integrated with biocontrol strategies leading to the development of environmentally feasible management of apple orchards. Such systems will not only reduce dependence on chemical control methods but will also minimize ecotoxicity. Drawing parallels between the biocontrol methods adopted in sustainable agri-production in other fruit orchards suggest other strategies that can be employed for sustainable apple production.