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Question: Discuss about the Communicating Agricultural Sciences. Answer: A Literature review Integrated Pest Management: Sophisticated approach towards reduction of chemical use in Cotton crop The emerging technologies in pest management of cotton crops as a part of the integrated pest management or IPM have significantly influenced chemical usage. Pretty and Bharucha (2015) argued that the IPM is not just the resource conserving technology. When compared to other forms IMP is the sustainable intensification that increases the natural, human and social capital by preventing the crop, pest, weeds and disease. The sophisticated approach to grow cotton crops without chemicals reduces the use of the pesticides by 50%. Chemicals such as mercury, calcium arsenate, copper arsenite, and others are no more required in the agro ecosystem. The author highlighted the use of alternative methods such as biopesticides and insecticides to cotton crop. The results showed increase in yields with reduction in chemicals to cotton crops although complex. On the other hand the chemicals use reduction is significant. However, the author also presented the drawback of reducing chemical use such a s evolution of pests, diseases and weeds. The study is limited as it focuses in other crops other than cotton. The results were supported by the survey of Wilson et al. (2018) that highlighted incorporation of the IPM in Australian industry. It is attributed to sophisticated approach called production of the Bt cotton. In this approach the, the cotton crop is injected with the genome of the Bacillus thurengienesis to prevent damage by insect toxins. It significantly decreased the use of the of insecticide active ingredient spread per hectare. Thus this approach of using the pest ecology/ biology is advantageous as year round approach. This approach is useful against resistant Helicoverpa spp. larvae in Bt cotton. Reducing the chemical use and replacing with this approach has resulted in the increase in environmental and economic gains. This system has well evolved since 50 years in Australia owing to the flexibility of the sophisticated approach. The limitations of the approach are focus only in Australian industry. In the book by Luttrell et al. (2015) reduction in chemical use by sophisticated approach as part of the IPM, is discussed. The author presented the advancement in the arthropod control technologies, crop management system and improved insect management system. This process reduces the arthropod damage to the cotton crops. It drastically decreases the insecticidal control of several key cotton pests. Greatest advancement being the Bt cotton in US. This is in alignment with the results of Wilson et al. (2018), however, it focused more on the adaptive capacity of the arthropods and spatial scales of management. This approach to reduce the chemicals have remarkable reduced the arthropod damage. Unlike the above cross section survey studies, Krishna and Qaim (2012) emphasised the long term effects of the reduced chemical use for cotton crops and the advantage of the Bt cotton. The data on sustainability was a literature gap and omitted by this study. This study collected data from the pa nel survey of cotton farmers in India. The Bt use significantly reduced the applications of pesticides by non-Bt farmers. The results coincided with the above results. However, it contradicted the results by Wilson et al. (2018) that considered that the Bt approach would become obsolete. The data is however limited due to small farmer setting. The study by Downes et al. (2017) gave evidence to the Wilson et al. (2018) argument that the Bt cotton approach has challenges. In this study, the findings highlighted the resistance of Helicoverpa armigera in Australian to DDT with use of broad spectrum insecticide. Despite various rotating chemistries and the use of modified chemical sprays the resistance continued, until genetically modified crops augmented IPM. The results imply that the resistance management is vital for genetically modified cotton crops. Another study by Benbrook (2012), also gave similar evidence. In the herbicide-resistant weed management system, to mitigate the spread of glyphosate-resistant weeds, there is an increasing amount of the herbicide use. This increase reduced the insecticide use onBtcrops. The results were also supported by another meta-analysis by Klmper and Qaim (2014). The results of the study concluded that genetically modified technology adoption reduces the chemical use by 37% and increase s the crop yields by 22%. This technology also increases the farmers profit by 68%. When compared to the herbicide-tolerant crops, insect-resistant cropsshowedincreased yield gains and reduction of chemicals both in the developing and developed countries. Although the original studies does not show sample size and variance measured it is useful to increase the public trust in the technology. This study eliminated the gap created by Wilson et al. (2018) and Luttrell et al. (2015) that focused on single countries. Studies from different countries showed efficacy of the transgenic Bt cotton approach in reducing the chemical use in the cotton crops. Countries like Australia, US and other developed countries have demonstrated the successful adoption to the sophisticated approach as a part of IPM There is a literature gap in the factors preventing the adoption to alternate to chemicals in pest management. The gap in the literature was covered by the survey conducted by Khan and Damalas (2015). The results showed that half of the farmers in the Punjab in Pakistan were forced to use pesticides for cotton crops. The main determinants were lack of education, lack of environmentally sound pest control methods. The increased availability of the chemical and the poor government regulation system were other barriers ion adoption of sophisticated approach to reduce chemical in cotton crops. The study implies for strong government policies and regulation system. The results align with that of Khan and Damal as (2015). It highlighted that the cotton farmers had less knowledge of the pesticide safety issues and thus relied on the chemical method. The results implied the farmers education and training to create awareness of natural enemies of cotton pests. Similar study on farmers perspective in Iran revealed that adoption of sophisticated approach of biological control could be enhanced by recognising the negative effects of chemicals (Abdollahzadeh et al., 2015). References Abdollahzadeh, G., Sharifzadeh, M.S. and Damalas, C.A., 2015. Perceptions of the beneficial and harmful effects of pesticides among Iranian rice farmers influence the adoption of biological control.Crop Protection,75, pp.124-131. Benbrook, C.M., 2012. Impacts of genetically engineered crops on pesticide use in the US--the first sixteen years.Environmental Sciences Europe,24(1), p.24. Downes, S., Kriticos, D., Parry, H., Paull, C., Schellhorn, N. and Zalucki, M.P., 2017. A perspective on management of Helicoverpa armigera: transgenic Bt cotton, IPM, and landscapes.Pest management science,73(3), pp.485-492. Khan, M. and Damalas, C.A., 2015. Factors preventing the adoption of alternatives to chemical pest control among Pakistani cotton farmers.International Journal of pest management,61(1), pp.9-16. Khan, M. and Damalas, C.A., 2015. Farmers' knowledge about common pests and pesticide safety in conventional cotton production in Pakistan.Crop Protection,77, pp.45-51. Klmper, W. and Qaim, M., 2014. A meta-analysis of the impacts of genetically modified crops.PloS one,9(11), p.e111629. Krishna, V.V. and Qaim, M., 2012. Bt cotton and sustainability of pesticide reductions in India.Agricultural Systems,107, pp.47-55. Luttrell, R.G., Teague, T.G. and Brewer, M.J., 2015. Cotton insect pest management.Cotton, (agronmonogr57), pp.509-546. Pretty, J. and Bharucha, Z.P., 2015. Integrated pest management for sustainable intensification of agriculture in Asia and Africa.Insects,6(1), pp.152-182. Wilson, L.J., Whitehouse, M.E. and Herron, G.A., 2018. The Management of Insect Pests in Australian Cotton: An Evolving Story.Annual review of entomology,63(1).