Rao & Parasharya: Indian Bird pest management

RT20: Changing scenario in the bird pest management on Indian landscape

P. Syamsunder Rao¹ & Bhavabhuti Mukundrey Parasharya²

¹AINP on Agricultural Ornithology, A.P Agricultural University, Hyderabad - 500 030. A.P., India, e-mail astral@hd1.vsnl.net.in; ²Department of Bio-Control, Gujarat Agricultural University, Anand - 388 1 10, Gujarat, India

Rao, P.S. & Parasharya, B.M. 1999. Changing scenario in the bird pest management on Indian landscape. In: Adams, N.J. & Slotow, R.H. (eds) Proc. 22 Int. Ornithol. Congr., Durban: 3198. Johannesburg: BirdLife South Africa.

Among the factors responsible for crop loss birds, next to rodents, have become major constraints in food production. Management of bird pests has been one of the difficult areas to tackle with, due to highly intelligent adaptable and mobile nature of the birds and above all the need to preserve the ecological balance. Systematic research has been conducted on these aspects in All India Network Research Project on Agricultural Ornithology, A.P. Agricultural University, Hyderabad on various management devices to protect the crop from bird damage with physical, repellents and non-lethal methods and reduce the damage to Economic Threshold Level (ETL). In view of the environmental safety, conservation of fauna, a non-lethal approach with the concept of IPM in the bird pest management may prove benefit to the farming community in protecting the crop from bird damage and increase the food production. An insight into various aspects on bird pest management and conservation of the beneficial species and their role in agriculture is discussed in this paper with emphasis on future thrust areas.