Head of the Division :

Sections:

• Plant Pathology

• Entomology

• Nematology

Crop Protection division mainly focus on occurrence and distribution of pests and diseases and surveillance of emerging pests and diseases, diagnosis of pests and diseases, etiology, pathogen diversity, epidemiology, pest and disease forecasting and IPM and IDM with special emphasis on biological control.

Major Research Activities:

• Integrated biocontrol of major pests of coconut like eriophyrid mite, red palm weevil, leaf eating caterpillar, white grub and rhinoceros beetle.

• Collection and cataloging of natural enemies of the pests.

• Field evaluation of EPN against coconut white grub.

• Refinement of IPM for major pests of coconut.

• Surveillance and monitoring of possible invasive and emerging pests of palms and cocoa.

• Exploring the potential of pheromone and kairomone blend for red palm weevil management and nanotechnological approach for pheromone delivery.

• Integrated management of arecanut white grub.

• Integrated approaches for the management of tea mosquito bug in cocoa.

• Development of diagnostics for coconut root (wilt) disease (RWD) and arecanut yellow leaf disease (YLD) using molecular techniques.

• Studies on induced systemic resistance against RWD and YLD.

• Diversity analysis of Phytophthora sp. causing disease of coconut and cocoa.

• Epidemiology of Phytophthora disease of coconut an d cocoa.

• Integrated biocontrol of major diseases.

• Developing IDM Modules for Phytophthora diseases.

• Demonstration of new IPM and IDM technologies developed by CPCRI in farmers gardens.