Commemorating the International Year of Fruits and Vegetables 2021, Association for Advancement of Pest Management in Horticultural Ecosystem (AAPMHE) in association with ICAR – Indian Institute of Horticultural Research, Bengaluru organized 5th National Symposium on Plant Protection in Horticulture (NSPPH-2021) through virtual mode from 27th to 29th December 2021. An exclusive Brain storming session on ‘Thrips parvispinus’ was also conducted on 29.12.2021 as a part of the symposium to deliberate on the burning problem in chillies. Around 200 delegates participated in the symposium including the brain storming session from different parts of the country through online mode.
During the Inaugural session, Dr. A. K. Singh, DDG (HS), Dr. S.C. Dubey (ADG, PP & B), Dr. Vikramaditya Pandey (ADG HS-1) from ICAR-New Delhi; Dr. Sagar Hanuman Singh, Director General, NIPHM, Hyderabad; Dr. B. N. S. Murthy, Director, ICAR –IIHR, Bengaluru and Dr. M Krishna Reddy, Head, Division of Crop Protection addressed the delegates and stressed on development of eco-friendly and sustainable pest management packages for the benefit of farming community. Major emphasis was given for tackling the recent thrips menace in chillies with immediate solutions by interdisciplinary team of scientists.
Dr. N. K. Krishna Kumar, Former DDG (HS) and Dr. Abraham Verghese, Former Director, ICAR – NBAIR, Bengaluru delivered Key Note Addresses on IPM in horticulture. There were six technical sessions conducted in the three days’ symposium with lead talks delivered in each theme area by subject matter experts in India. Out of 85 abstracts received, seventy two oral presentations were made by delegates on different theme areas of plant protection in horticulture. In plenary session, awards were announced for best oral presentations in each theme area. The Plenary Session on 29.12.2021 was chaired by Dr. S.C. Dubey, ADG (PP & B) and he emphasized the importance of integrating different components of plant protection including strict quarantine measures, residue free and farmer friendly plant protection technologies. In his concluding remarks, Dr. B. N. S. Murthy, Director, ICAR-IIHR stressed for standardisation of spray application technologies using drones. The programme ended with vote of thanks by Dr. C. Chandrashekara, Senior Scientist & Treasurer (AAPMHE), Division of Crop Protection, ICAR –IIHR, Bengaluru. Dr. V. Sridhar, Principal Scientist & President (AAPMHE) and Dr. R. Umamaheswari, Senior Scientist & Secretary (AAPMHE) from Division of Crop Protection, ICAR –IIHR, Bengaluru were the Organizing Secretaries for this symposium.
