Biological control involves using natural enemies like predators, parasites, pathogens to control pests. Some key points in the history of biological control include the Chinese using ants in the 3rd century AD to control citrus pests and the vedalia beetle being used in the 1880s to control cottony cushion scale in California. Common agents used in biological control include predators, parasitoids, nematodes, protozoa, bacteria, fungi, and viruses. Techniques include introduction, conservation, and augmentation of natural enemies. Biological control provides environmentally friendly pest management but can be slow, unpredictable, and require expert supervision.

1. BIOLOGICAL
CONTROL

2. Biological Control
• Natural control strategies that employ
biological agents for pest suppression
• usually refers to the practice of rearing and
releasing natural enemies: parasites,
predators, or pathogens.
• management activity that is designed to
protect or conserve natural enemies

3. 200 A.D. to 1200 A.D: BC
Chinese were the first to use
natural enemies to control
insect pests.Nests of the
ant Oecophylla smaragdina
were sold near Canton in
the 3rd century for use in
control of citrus insect
pests such as Tesseratoma
papillosa (Lepidoptera)

4. 1300 A.D. to 1799
A.D
• Control of the bedbug, Cimex
lectularius, was successfully
accomplished by releases of the
predatory pentatomid Picromerus
bidens in 1776 in Europe

5. 1850 to 1887.
• Trichogramma sp. (egg parasites)
were shipped from the U.S. to
Canada for control of
lepidopterous pests in 1882

6. 1888 to 1889
• The vedalia beetle controls the scale
mainly in the inland desert areas
• and C. iceryae controls it in the coastal
areas of California

7. 4,000 years ago-
Egypt used cats as
the first Biological
Control for rodents.

8. 1849
Chinese Starling was
introduced in the
Philippines by
Governor Martines to
control the migratory
locust infestation.

9. Charles Valentine Riley
(birthyear)
“Father of Modern Biological Control” and
the first person who import mites to control
grapevine Phylloxera.

10. Agents in Biological Control
• Predators
• Parasitoids
• Nematodes
• Protozoa
• Pathogenic micro-organisms
• Bacteria
• Fungi
• Virus

11. Agents in Biological Control
PREDATORS
- are mainly free-living
species that directly consume a large
number of preys during their whole
lifetime.

12. Agents in Biological Control
• PARASITOID
-lay their eggs on or in the body of an insect host, which is then used as a
food for developing larvae.

13. Agents in Biological Control
• Nematodes
- are one of the most abundant groups of living
animals, and although morphologically they are very
simple, they have exploited a wide range of diverse
habitats including invertebrates.
- usually considered pests because of the diseases
they cause in humans and animals and the economic
impact they have on many agricultural products

14. Agents in Biological Control
• PROTOZOA
- one-celled life forms. Some
species are responsible for
serious human diseases, such as
malaria, vectored by mosquitoes.
- Most species of entomopathic
protozoa cause chronic infections that
weaken, but do not kill their host.

15. Agents in Biological Control
• Pathogenic micro-organisms
- include bacteria, fungi, and viruses. They kill or debilitate their host and are relatively host-
specific. Various microbial insect diseases occur naturally, but may also be used as biological
pesticides.

16. Agents in Biological Control
• Pathogenic micro-organisms
Bacteria - used for biological
control infect insects via
their digestive tracts, so
insects with sucking mouth
parts like aphids and scale
insects are difficult to
control with bacterial
biological control.

17. Agents in Biological Control
• Pathogenic micro-organisms
Fungi - are used
successfully to protect
crops from a variety of
pests.
-They can infect a wide
range of insect hosts.

18. Agents in Biological Control
• Pathogenic micro-organisms
Virus - are obligate disease-
causing organisms that can only
reproduce within a host insect.
They can provide safe, effective
and sustainable control of a
variety of insect pests, although
they are most effective as part of
a diverse integrated pest
management program.

19. Method/Techniques in Biological Control
Biological control practices involve three major techniques :
1. Introduction
2. Conservation
3. Augmentation

20. Method/Techniques in Biological Control
• INTRODUCTION
It is advisable to introduce an exotic species of a natural enemy either when
there is an unoccupied a niche and is required to be displaced by a more
efficient exotic species.

21. Method/Techniques in Biological Control
• CONSERVATION
- avoidance of measures that destroy natural enemies and the use of
measure that increase their longevity and reproduction of the attractiveness
of an area to natural enemies.

22. Method/Techniques in Biological Control
• CONSERVATION
• Preservation of Inactive Stages
• Avoidance of Harmful Cultural Practices
• Maintenance of Diversity
• Natural Food, Artificial Food Supplements and Shelters
• Protection from Pesticides

23. Method/Techniques in Biological Control
• AUGMENTATION
- all activities designed to increase numbers or effect of existing natural enemies
-achieved by releasing additional numbers of a natural enemy into a system or modifying the
environment in such a way as to promote greater number or effectiveness.
-

24. Method/Techniques in Biological Control
PERIODIC RELEASES OF AUGMENTATION
-Inoculative Release - may be made as infrequently as once a year to re-establish a species of natural which is
periodically killed out In an area by unfavorable conditions part of a year.
-Inundative Release - involves mass culture and release of natural enemies to suppress the pest population
directly. These are most economical against pests that have only one or few discrete generations every year e.g.
massive release of Trichogramma spp.

25. Advantages of Biological Control
• Absence of toxic effects.
• No development of resistance by the pest.
• No residues of poison in the soils and rivers
• No build up of toxins in food chain
• No killing of pollinators, or development of secondary pests through the
destruction of their environment.

26. Disadvantages of Biological Control
• Control is slow.
• It is often unpredictable.
• It is difficult and expensive to develop and apply
• It requires expert supervision.