Invasive alien species (IAS) pose a severe threat to global agriculture, with their impact projected to escalate due to climate change and expanding international trade. The fall armyworm (FAW),Spodoptera frugiperda(J. E. Smith), a native of the Americas, has rapidly spread across various continents, causing significant damage to several food crops, especially maize. Integrated pest management (IPM) programs are vital for sustainable FAW control, combining multiple strategies for sustainable results. Over three consecutive years, 2019–20, 2020–21 and 2021–22, the field demonstrations were conducted in semiarid regions of India, testing a four-component IPM approach viz., pheromone traps, microbial, botanicals and ETL based applications of insecticides against farmers' practices (sole insecticide application). IPM implementation led to substantial reductions in FAW infestation. Furthermore, egg mass and larvae infestations were significantly lower in IPM-adopted villages compared to conventional practices. Pheromone-based monitoring demonstrated a consistent reduction in adult moth populations. The lowest technology gap (10.42), extension gap (8.33) and technology index (12.25) was recorded during 2020–21. The adoption of IPM led to increased maize yields (17.49, 12.62 and 24.87% over control), higher net returns (919, 906.20 and 992.93 USD), and favourable benefit–cost ratios (2.74, 2.39 and 2.33) compared to conventional practices respectively during 2019–20, 2020–21 and 2021–22. The economic viability of IPM strategies was evident across three consecutive years, confirming their potential for sustainable FAW management in the semiarid region of India. These strategies hold promise for adoption in other parts of the world sharing similar climatic conditions.

Cotton is an important cash crop in many developing countries, supporting the livelihoods of millions of poor people. Crop productivity has increased globally since the introduction of Bt cotton. Despite the Bt cotton area expanding year after year, most farmers are not getting guaranteed yields due to the high incidence of Pink bollworm (PBW). The Integrated Pest Management tactics including, the use of pheromone traps, manual destruction of rosette flowers, the application of biopesticides (Azadirachtin 1500 ppm) and synthetic insecticide (Thiodicarb 75% WP) were evaluated against cotton PBW farmer’s field conditions in Southern Telangana Zone of Telangana state, India during 2018–19, 2019–20, and 2020–21. The observations on incidence and percentage of reduction of PBW, extension gap, technology gap and technology index, were worked out in farmer’s field and demonstration field. During three growing seasons, the mean PBW infestation of cotton crops ranged between 38.3 ± 5.87, 40 ± 8.34, and 40.4 ± 3.80, respectively. In the present study, the activity of PBW adults were started at initial square formation to flowering stage (i.e. 55–60 days after sowing) and more number of adults was trapped post boll picking during all the observed years. During the studied years, the mean pest population reduction due to azadirachtin and thiodicarb application ranged from 30.37 to 43.71 and 35.14 to 53.78%, respectively. The benefit-cost ratio analysis shows that the adoption of IPM practices gives more benefit per rupee invested, i.e. 1.35, 2.07, and 1.51, compared to farmer’s practice 1.11, 1.71, and 1.36, respectively during 2018–19, 2019–20, and 2020–21. Similarly, the technology gap, extension gap, and technology index in the demonstration field ranged from 2 to 13.09, 1.02 to 3.9, and 6.67 to 43.63%, respectively. The lower technological index (6.67) in the study area indicates the greater technological feasibility under farmer field conditions.

Biotic stress is a major cause for pre and postharvest losses in agriculture. Food crops of the world are damaged by more than of 10,000 species of insects 30,000 species of weeds, 1,00, 000 types of diseases (due to fungi, viruses, bacteria and various microbes) and a 1,000 species of nematodes. Modern day management practices for the above specified stress factors largely depends on the utilization of synthetic pesticides. Pesticide misuse in numerous sectors of agriculture frequently has often linked to health issues and environmental pollution around the world. Thus, there is a growing interest in replacing or possibly supplementing the prevailing control strategies with new and safer techniques. One of the promising management tools in this new state of affairs for crop protection is microbial pesticides. At present, only 3% of plant protectants used globally are covered by bio pesticides, but their growth rate indicates an increasing trend in the past two decades. The discovery of insecticidal property of Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) indicated a more extensive part of organism based natural control. Microbial pesticides comprise of a microorganisms (bacterium, fungus, virus or protozoan) or toxins produced by them as the active ingredient. The most commonly used microbial pesticides are entomopathogenic fungi (Metarhizium, Beauveria and Verticillium), entomopathogenic bacteria (Bt), entomopathogenic nematode (Steinernema and Heterorhabditis) and baculoviruses (NPV and GV) which able to cause disease in insects. Microbial insecticides are promising alternative to ecologically disruptive pest control measures as they are no longer harmful to the environment and non target organisms. If deployed appropriately, microbial insecticides have capability to bring sustainability to global agriculture for food and food safety.

The invasive fall armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda J.E. Smith) poses a significant threat to maize productivity in India, yet optimal insecticide application strategies aligned with crop phenology remain underexplored. A comprehensive field investigation was undertaken at the Maize Research Centre, Rajendranagar, Hyderabad, across three consecutive Kharif seasons (2020-2022) to assess the performance of chlorantraniliprole 18.5 % SC (soluble concentrate) (applied at 0.4 ml/L) in controlling the invasive pest Spodoptera frugiperda J.E. Smith (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae), commonly known as the fall armyworm (FAW), in maize. The experimental layout followed a randomized block design, incorporating multiple insecticide application timings based on crop phenology (7, 10, 14 and 20 days after germination) and pest incidence thresholds (5 % and 10 %), in addition to an untreated control for comparison.Among the evaluated strategies, the sequential application of chlorantraniliprole at the V2 (7 DAG) and V4 (14 DAG) vegetative stages proved to be the most effective. This treatment significantly minimized FAW infestation, registering a mean infestation of only 12.33 %, along with the lowest leaf injury rating (1.98) on the modified Davis scale and the highest recorded grain yield (81.30 q/ha). A closely comparable result was achieved with applications at the V3 (10 DAG) and V5 (20 DAG) stages, which showed a slightly higher mean infestation (13.71 %) but identical leaf injury scores (1.98) and a near-equivalent grain yield (81.11 q/ha). The findings underscore the importance of timely insecticide applications during the early vegetative stages, particularly V2 and V4, to suppress FAW populationseffectively and optimize maize productivity. This research highlights the critical role of growth stage-based pest management in enhancing crop health and yield outcomes under FAW pressure.

Wild boars (Sus scrofa) pose a severe threat to agriculture in Telangana, causing yield losses of 20-45 % in unprotected fields and significant economic loss to farmers. Traditional deterrents such as scarecrows, saree fencing and manual guarding have been largely ineffective, providing only 5-10 % reduction in crop damage. Field demonstrations of agri-solar fencing conducted from 2021 to 2023 across ten agro-ecological locations of Telangana revealed that treated plots recorded 0 % crop damage, while control plots showed an average of 29.1 % damage. Yields in treated fields were significantly higher: rice (8024 vs. 6800 kg/ha), maize (8025 vs. 1620 kg/ha in Nagarkurnool; 7506 vs. 4125 kg/ha in Rajendranagar), groundnut (3625 vs. 1120 kg/ha), red gram (2032 vs. 1450 kg/ha) and black gram (1504 vs. 800 kg/ha). The incremental cost-benefit ratio (ICBR) ranged from 1:0.98 in rice to 1:6.97 in groundnut, confirming the economic feasibility of the technology. Farmers also reported indirect benefits such as reduced labour, improved household security and less dependence on manual guarding. The study underscores agri-solar fencing as a sustainable, non-lethal and scalable solution for mitigating wildlife conflict and improving farm incomes in semi-arid regions of Telangana.