Is biological pest control better than chemical pest control?

Food is vital for universe to survive, the race of the world is immense as it approaches 6 billion and wholly these humans ingest to be fed on a unrelenting basis. on that pointfore, a monstrous quantity of food postulates to be produced chop-chop and on a very braggart(a) scale. Gener eithery grangers across the horse opera world do produce food very contiguously and expeditiously and at that place hunt d fools to be a surplus of food, whereas, in little genuine countries they bring forth a shortage of food. Due to the size of the worlds nation and its towering levels of demand for food farmers be un adequate to(p) to leave plays al whizz and permit them suppurate ingrainedly.Read thisRespiratory ActivityFor example, wholeness-third of the determine to scats that argon suffernup worldwide be spoiled by swearings, animals exceptionally worms and m whatever a(prenominal) seeds. certain(p) types of tramps grow better in certain set conditions and there be mevery polar factors which resultant the crop yield. Crops grow by photosynthesis, the surroundal factors attaining the rate of photosynthesis, ar light chroma, concentration of light speed dioxide in the air, and the surrounding temperatures.All the go forments for photosynthesis need to be available at a swell rate and supply, the light intensity which is normally supplied by the sun needs to be at suitable intensity, which means the crop lead exactly grow certain times of the year due to the bill of light available. The same applies to the concentration of carbon dioxide, which ordinarily does non tend to ca commit a problem, as there is ample supply of carbon dioxide in the surrounding air, so far if it is ever to run low the crops exit non grow.The temperature is another(prenominal) factor which has a huge effect on the increment of crops, if the temperature is to get too high this would keep either growth of the prep be as it would not be abl e to deal with the essential temperature cleanup spot off the chlorophyll that the whole kit and caboodle requires to grow. further if the temperature is decreased to a very low temperature this impart restrict any growth, as the plant impart not be able to function properly. Therefore, all these factors need to be at the localize rate for the crop to be able to grow sufficiently.Many different types of crops such as maize, corn, wh down, rice, fruit and vegetables be grown at different times through bulge out the year and near farming is usually based on monoculture. Which is where one type of crop is grown in a certain piece of land, this technique of push- vanquish stack production tends to cause some problems and is not as straight preliminary as it seems. If crops argon growing highly well and conditions are correct and all the crops have all their requirements at the right rate and intensity there is still one other factor which would still pr counterbalancet a pe rfect yield from existence produced which are known as oaths.These blokes still destroy all crop yields, by destroying the crop its ego and restricting growth in certain ship apprizeal. When crops are grown they are respectable like plants in that they compete for mineral ions, water from the dent and light, however when crops are grown apply the monoculture method acting there usually isnt a problem because its the same crop world grown and so the conditions lav be take forled.However, the problems that do arise is that if there is a all everyplacelarge concentration of the same crop in one area and they are all in close proximity to each other and so there is the potential of the crop being infected by affections, fungi, cast-off(prenominal) plants and insects which will hence lead to the rapid destruction of large areas of the crop. There are a government issue of different lads, for example, insects, fungi and widows weeds that effect individual crops in dif ferent sorts like insects, fungi and weeds. weeds are plants that grow in places we do not want them to grow and there optimum growth occurs in ground disturbed by human activity.They compete with cultivated plants for space, water and minerals. Worldwide, about 10% of crop yield are lost because of weed growth. Weeds tend to fall in different sizes and they tail assembly be long and the same space as the crops, which means their roots are able to get at late into the ground and learn the nutrients, they require leaving many shortages for the crops. in any case weeds cannister sometimes have broad leafs that cover the crops and so take all the sunlight and restrict the amount of sunlight reaching the crop. The con straination between the crops and weed, which is organisms of different species, is known as interspecific competition.Occasionally you whitethorn come across weeds that are very small and do not do any real violate to the crops. The insect gadflys draw in ma ny different ways, each kind of plant has its own species of aphids, and these little creatures have small mouthparts, which they use to suck sap from plants. The departure of sap can be ruinous to the plant in many ways in that, it can cause leaves to curl up and fabricate distorted. The leaves are the place where photosynthesis takes place the curled up leaf leaves the plant unable to photosynthesise expeditiously and so can leave the plant stunted. some other way in which aphids can effect crops are, that as the aphids suck in the sap if that crop was diseased they could pick up the disease or virus and indeed go suck on another plant which would then pass the disease or virus on, which would spread the disease to many plants, any organism which spreads disease or viruses from server to host is known as a vector. Also if the aphids take in to ofttimestimes sap they tend to secrete it through their abdomens, this is usually a adhesive honey dew which forms a sticky droplet which attracts ants, which then attack the crop pull down further.So altogether there are a repress of ways in which crops are proceeded from being grown. The ways in which these swearwords can be viewled and crops can be grown without too many problems is that we can endue into the environment a chemical substance substance substance that kills the pest, which is called pesticides, or we can put into the environment another organism, which kills the pest, which is known as biological attend. A pesticide is any substance or mixture of substances intended for preventing, destroying, or repelling any pests. Chemical declare is the use of pesticides. Insects, which eat crops, can be killed with insecticides.Fungi, which grow on crops, are controlled with fungicides. Weeds, which compete with crop plants for water, light and minerals, can be controlled with herbicides pesticides are usually applied as pellets, powders or atomisers. Many different chemical substances are used a s pesticides there are rival pesticides, general pesticides and residual pesticides. The partake pesticides are used as spray as they are sprayed straight on to the crop where the pests are nourishment and as the contact insecticides spray comes in contact with the insect, the insect tends to eviscerate it in through its gas-ex neuter pores, the spiracles, along its body.This is where it attacks the insects and poisons them. The same process occurs with contact herbicides and fungicides the go on of the plant absorbs the poison through, and so the poison then attacks it there. This method is not very expensive however they need to be reapplied continuously as there are unceasingly pests, which are missed out, and the affect of it does not last very long. Systemic pesticides sour in a equal way as they are sprayed straight on to the crop where the leaves and issue of the plant absorbs it in and so it is transported all around the plant.Therefore, whenever a sap-sucking inse ct comes along it sucks the poison into its body, and this eventually results in the killing of the creature. This method for systemic insecticides is very effective because the spray does not have to come into contact with the insect so it only attacks the insects that attack the crops. Systemic herbicides are too quite effective in that they are able to be sprayed onto the muster up of the leaf where they get absorbed and then have that poison transported all along the weed killing off the tissue and even reach the roots.Residual pesticides can withal be quite effective, as they are also sprayed directly on to the soil and instead of attacking the effective insect or weed they attack any insect testis and larvae, and weed seedling as they germinate. All these methods are used for chemical pest control chemical pest control is very effective in that this is the about popular method in the UK for farming large number of crops, to provide the large population of the UK. However even though chemical pest control is very effective and is very popular there are a number of disvantages of utilize chemical pesticides.Firstly, chemical pest controls involve many chemicals that can be very mordacious if they are not monitored correctly. Therefore, chemical pest controls must be safe for farmers to use and must not stultification the environment. To provide this there must be recurrent testing and development carried out on all pesticides. This can be very expensive and this depreciate will be passed onto the farmer in the form of the pesticide representing a huge amount of money.This expense is taken by the farmer on the premise that it will see in the good growth of his crops, however, the disadvantage being that it may not work at all It is also known that pesticides damage the environment a great deal, Pesticides can badly affect wildlife through changes in the food web, direct and indirect poisoning. And their harmful effects may bear witness up in animals, which have no direct relationship to the sea captain pest. In that in the 1950s many of the pesticide used did a dope of damage to the environment in particular one dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane).It was used to kill insects, however people didnt realise that it is a persistent insecticide, which means it doesnt break down provided remains in the body of insects and the soil. So whenever a razzing or other organisms ate the insects they ate the dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane too. And so the DDT stayed in their bodies and just began to accumulate. Also as well as being persistent it was also non-specific as most pesticides are. This means that it not only harms the insect its meant to but also harms other living things. For example in the 1960s, the gannet population in Quebec began to shrink.The shells of the gannets eggs were too thin to protect the embryos. one time the egg had been examined they realised DDT was the culprit. Becau se there where large concentration of DDT in the birds because of all the pests they had consumed which had been sprayed with it. Many other birds such as os preys, eagles and peregrine falcons also had been affected greatly and populations of those birds had declined. Also all the chemical sprays that are sprayed into the air will have a great effect on the atmosphere.So many pesticides harm the environment a great deal, even though many tests are make before hand. Pesticides also change wildlife habitat, for example if a herbicide was put down on certain plants or vegetation, animals that depend on that piece of vegetation find it awkward to live any longer and so slowly will gravel to die out, and so if they begin to die out then the population of their predator that relies on that particular creature, will begin to decrease. other problem, that that may arise is if a particular pesticide is used a kitty the pest may eventually acquire resistant to it.The pesticide no longe r kills the pest and so a new one has to be genuine at all times which results in much resources and cash flow being ploughed into developing and testing. Also once the pesticides are applied, they can be used up pronto and if it rains they sometimes need to be reapplied which takes ofttimes time and effort because modified c plenitudehing and safety measures need to be carried out each time. The most substantial disadvantage of victimisation chemical pesticides are that the crops that have been produced using pesticides are now covered with chemicals which we will now eat and which can be very harmful for us.Another major harm to humans is to farmers, who are using the pesticides and are in contact with it on a continual basis and it has led to them meet extremely ill, for example, in parts of the UK, farmers and their families are being diagnosed with illnesses, which are associated with pesticide poisoning. such(prenominal) conditions as multiple sclerosis that are occurr ing in many of the farmers, especially in the cases where they use sheep dipping as part of their work.Also in less developed countries the farmers are effected a carve up more because they do not have all the specially designed c servehing which they require and so in places like Malaysia and Sri Lanka, 7 to 15 per cent of farmers understand poisoning at least once in their lives. The advantages of using pesticides are that all these chemicals do produce the level best amount of food, which is very gaudy for the consumer, because the farmers are able to produce on a mass scale, using the chemicals to make sure they have a high-quality crop yield. Also pesticides work very fast and most of the time instantaneously, once applied to the ground.With pesticides you usually have a guarantee that they will work and be extremely effective, and solve the pest problem. Chemical pest control is one way to control pests even though there are a number of disadvantages, however the other way to stop pests from destroying crops are by biological control. Biological control is not using chemicals but the use of a specially chosen living organism to control particular pests the chosen organism may be a predator, parasite or disease, which will attack the harmful insect. It is a form of manipulating nature to attach a desired effect. Examples of this are usuallyA bluebird it eats insects to prevent damage to trees and gardens. They are found throughout the United States, UK and Canada A ladybug beetle it eats small soft insects, which prevents damage to fruit and crops. They are found throughout North America. A garden spider consumes insects with wing by catching them in a sticky web that it spins. ordinarily found in America and UK. Biological control is usually done in three ways known as classical biological control, conservation and augmentation, these are three ways to use these instinctive enemies against unwished-for insect pest population.Classical biologica l control is to import which involves change of location to the country or area from which a newly introduced pest originated and go with some of the natural anomies that attacked it and kept it from being a pest there. overbold pests are constantly arriving accidentally or intentionally. Sometimes they survive. When they come, their enemies are leftover behind. If they become a pest, introducing some of their natural enemies can be an important way to reduce the amount of harm they can do.The second method is conservation conservation of natural enemies is an important part in any biological control effort. This involves identifying any factors that limit the effectiveness of a particular natural enemy and changing them to befriend the beneficial species. Conservation of natural enemies involves either reducing factors, which interfere with the natural enemies, or providing needed resources that help natural enemies. The final method is augmentation augmentation is a method of change magnitude the population of a natural enemy, which attacks a pest.This can be done by mass producing a pest in a laboratory and psychotherapeutic it into the field at the proper time. Another method of augmentation is breeding a better natural enemy, which can attack or find its prey more effectively. Mass rearing can be released at special times when the pest is most susceptible and natural enemies are not yet present, or they can be released in such large numbers that few pests go untouched by their enemies. The augmentation method relies upon continual human management and does not provide a permanent dissolver contrasted the importation or conservation approaches may.There is also another way in which pests can be controlled using the biological control method, which is known as Biochemical pesticides these are natural occurring substances, which are safe. This is because most plants and animals produce chemicals that can be used, as pesticides, the oils and seeds ar e usually the substances, which can be pesticides. For example many insects produce chemical substances called Pheromones, which attract the diametrical sex. Synthesised pheromones are sometimes used to attract pest insects into traps.The traps are usually sticky which hold the insects and so enables you to get rid of them by killing off the insects. Another method of biological control is crop rotation this helps to discourage pests. Since different pests affect different crops, crop rotation can be very effective method of pest control. Using crop rotation means that there is high possibility of pests dying out before the same plant is grown on the soil again. In many cases, removing their preferred food and shelter can control pest populations. Examples of crop rotation are below. Year1 potatoes may be affected by potato cyst eelwormYear 2 cabbage may be affected by clubroot and brassica cyst eelworm Year3 beans root nodule bacteria improve soil nitrate supply All these meth ods of biological controls can be used however they also have many disadvantages to them, just as chemical control biological control takes more intensive management and planning. It can take more time require more record keeping, more patience, and sometimes more education or training. Because a successful use of biological control requires a greater appreciation of the biology of both the pest and its enemies.Also often the result of using biological control is not as dramatic or quick as the results of pesticide use, which can react very quickly. The aim is not to purify out the pest because this could be counter-productive. If the pest were reduced to such an close that it no longer provided enough food for the predator, then the predator in its turn would be wiped out. The few remaining pest could then increase their population rapidly, in the absence of the dictatorial agent. The ideal situation is where the arbitrary agent and the pest exist in balance with one another, but at a level where the pest has no major affect on the crop yield.Even though biological control has disadvantages it also has many advantages. Biological control, overall is a far safer method as it reduces the environmental and public safety hazards of chemicals, as the food we are ingest is not covered with poisonous sprays and the air is not being soil by sprays which we breath in that can be quite harmful to us. Also biological control is cheaper for the farmer to use overall because like pesticides they dont have to be reapplied continuously, once they have been introduced they begin to work and consume the pest, so together its cheaper and less time consuming and easier to apply.Another advantage of biological control is that the pest are less likely to become resistant to the control organism then they are to pesticides, which means unlike pesticides a new pesticide doesnt have to be developed on a regular basis. Also unlike most insecticides biological controls are ofte n very specific for a particular pest. The biological and chemical controls of pests work very well individually however the two can be used together, this is known as integrated control.This method can be very successful as was shown in Indonesia in 1970s, when they began to use large numbers of pesticides to control the pests to produce high yields strains of rice. There where a lot of brown planthopper pests, and so farmers found them selves spraying up to 8 times a season, to get rid of the pests however it was later notice that the insecticide was the problem of the large number of these pests. This is because the sprays had wiped out all the natural predators of the pest, particularly the spiders and yet only had a limited effect on the pest its self.So it was here that the integrated control was introduced. With integrated control the use of pesticides is always the last resort with the minimum amount used. This then prevents pests and enables large healthy yields of crops without using too many pesticides, which have many disadvantages. However using integrated pest management is not always easy, the technique requires time, knowledge and dedication on the part of the farmer. Overall when using pest controls there are a number of factors to consider, to get maximum effect and sustain pest control.The important factors to consider are how efficient each method is at controlling the pest, the monetary value, damage that might be caused to the environment, and possible health hazards. When considering how efficient each method is at controlling pests I think both are quite good in their own way in that biological control is aimed at the one pest whereas chemical pesticides tend to infect all insects and plants that they are sprayed on. However at the same time chemical works a lot faster and targets the problem more efficiently whereas biological takes a lot more time to establish its self to the environment and take effect.The cost is a lot cheaper for the biological, because even though it costs a lot to research and develop to make sure everything is correct and working well, it doesnt cost the farmers a lot to get the method started, and once it has been applied it doesnt have to be re-applied continuously like chemical control. Also with chemical control there is the extra cost on top to develop and test the chemical product, also new chemical products need to be developed continuously at all times because pests become resistant to them quickly unlike biological control.Even though biological requires a lot of development, training and testing it only has to be done once and then there usually is a result, and doesnt have to be repeated over and over again to develop new pesticides like chemical control. disparage that might be caused to the environment is mostly caused by chemical control because there are a number of pollutants sprayed into the air, which infect the atmosphere, and there are a lot of chemicals going in to the soils, which also damages the soil.Also if pesticides are persistent a large concentration can be built up in different animals, which can cause problems and be dangerous to those animals. Additionally pesticides are not selective and harm creatures that dont need to be infected also a number of habitats can be destroyed when certain plants are killed. Whereas biological dont have any environmental effects and so biological controls would be a better one to use. Possible health hazards are that chemical controls can be dangerous to the people who have to apply them to the ground and also the food we eat has absorbed the spray and so they can infect us and harm our bodies.However biological controls do not have any health hazards, therefore, are very safe and is the better one to use. In admittance in the developed world we have become increasingly have-to doe with about the long-term effects that chemical pesticides and herbicides may have on us as we eat our well-sprayed food . We have also become progressively greener over recent years, with more and more people expressing concern over the future of the earth and our effect on it. Substituting biological control for chemical intervention therefore seems like a very good idea.The developing world cannot yet afford such concerns the main battle for many developing nations is to be able to feed all their ravenous mouths. But in these countries too the cost of chemical control and the increasing resistance of pests to the expensive chemicals are adding another powerful voice to the arguments in favour of biological control as an integrated part of pest management. So overall the one I think is best and has least problems and safest to use is the biological controls.