Polyphagous Pests of Crops, 1st ed. 2021

Polyphagous pests are primarily agricultural pests that feed on economically important agricultural and horticultural crops of wide taxonomic diversity across the globe. They cause immense damage across different crop varieties owing to their generalist and voracious food habits. The advent of mono-crop culture in a huge area and the massive use of pesticides post green revolution have massively increased pest outbreaks all over the world. The Middle Eastern countries, African continent and even the Indian subcontinent is increasingly facing resurgences of polyphagus pests. This book compiles an inclusive account of polyphagous pests. It covers locusts, termites, aphids, whiteflies, mealybugs, scale insects, gram pod borer, fall armyworm, thrips, mites and rodents. The book discusses mode of spread, enormity of losses caused, mechanism of action, and also means to reduce the crop losses. It brings together a unique perspective for researchers to learn effective pest management practices across all crops. This book is a reference guide to researchers and also useful for academicians and students of entomology.        

Prof. Omkar has been associated with the Department of Zoology, University of Lucknow as a faculty for the past 32 years and a former Head of Department. His specialization is Entomology in which he specifically concentrates on agricultural pests, dealing with the aphids and their natural enemy complex, specifically ladybird beetles. He is author and editor of several books, including Industrial Entomology, Pests and Their Management, and Sucking Pests of Crops, published by Springer Nature. He is an elected Fellow of The National Academy of Sciences, India (FNASc) besides many more.