December 1998, Volume 19 No. 4

• General News
• Biorational
• Training News
• Internet Round-Up
• Announcements
• New Books
• Conference Reports
• Proceedings

Conference Reports

Indian Biocontrol Workers' Group Meeting

The VII Biocontrol Workers' Group Meeting was conducted under the aegis of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), New Delhi on 25-26 August 1998 at the Project Directorate of Biological Control (PDBC), Bangalore. The inaugural function was attended by 110 invitees and delegates from ICAR institutes and agricultural universities.

Dr S. P. Singh, Project Director, PDBC welcomed the gathering and gave an account of the research highlights for the years 1997-98 of the All-India Co-ordinated Research Project on Biological Control of Crop Pests and Weeds. Professor G. K. Veeresh inaugurated the Group Meeting and said that biocontrol was the most suitable method for control of pests in forests, plantation crops, horticulture and field crops. The need for conservation of natural enemies and adoption of bio-intensive pest management with careful pest management was stressed. Biocontrol programmes are considered to be in tune with eco-friendly approaches to pest management.

The following PDBC publications were released: `PDBC celebrates 50 years of Independence', `Production and use of polyhedrosis viruses of Spodoptera litura and Helicoverpa armigera', `Spodoptera litura aur Helicoverpa armigera kc NPV visanuo ka utpadan aur prayog' [in Hindi] and `Proceedings of national seminar on biological suppression of plant diseases, phytoparasitic nematodes and weeds'. `PDBC - biocontrol resource inforbase' and `An expert system for biological control of cotton pests in India (BIOCOT)' were also released.

By: Dr S. P. Singh, Project Directorate of Biological Control (ICAR), P. B. No. 2491, H. A. Farm Post, Bellary Road, Bangalore - 560 024, India.
E-mail: pdblc@x400.nicgw.nic.in
Fax: +91 080 3411961