Crop Protection

Pest management, plant pathology, and integrated pest management strategies.

15 topics and 181 published lessons.

Foundations of Crop Protection

Build the conceptual, economic, institutional, ecological, and biosecurity foundations needed before you study specific pest groups and management tools.

7 published lessons

  • Meaning, Scope, and Objectives of Crop Protection
  • Major Disciplines of Crop Protection
  • Historical Development of Crop Protection
  • Importance of Crop Protection to Food Security
  • The Agroecosystem Concept
  • Philippine Crop Protection Institutions and Regulatory Functions
  • Biosecurity, Quarantine, and Responsible Crop Protection

Pest Concepts, Crop Loss, Population Ecology, And Decision Thresholds

Establish the pest population, sampling, surveillance, injury, loss, and economic decision concepts used across insects, diseases, weeds, vertebrates, and other pests.

9 published lessons

  • Definition and Context-Dependent Nature of a Pest
  • Classification of Pests
  • Injury, Damage, and Crop Loss
  • Pest Population Ecology
  • Spatial Distribution of Pest Populations
  • Pest Sampling and Monitoring
  • Pest Surveillance and Early Warning
  • Economic Injury Level
  • Economic Threshold Level and Action Thresholds

Foundations Of Plant Pathology And Disease Diagnosis

Build the terminology, symptom vocabulary, diagnostic reasoning, causal confirmation, and disease measurement skills needed for Plant Pathology questions.

13 published lessons

  • Meaning, Scope, and Importance of Plant Pathology
  • Concept and Characteristics of Plant Disease
  • Disease Triangle, Tetrahedron, and Pyramid
  • Fundamental Plant Pathology Terminology
  • Classification of Plant Diseases
  • Symptoms and Signs
  • Necrotic Symptoms
  • Hypoplastic and Hyperplastic Symptoms
  • Important Symptom Terminology
  • Pathogen Signs and Reproductive Structures
  • Systematic Plant Disease Diagnosis
  • Koch's Postulates and Proof of Pathogenicity
  • Disease Assessment

Abiotic Plant Disorders

Train differential diagnosis of noninfectious plant problems caused by temperature, water, oxygen, nutrients, salts, pollutants, chemicals, and management errors.

7 published lessons

  • Diagnosis of Abiotic Disorders
  • Temperature Injury
  • Water, Oxygen, and Moisture Disorders
  • Nutrient Deficiency and Toxicity
  • Salinity, Sodicity, and Unfavorable Soil Conditions
  • Air Pollution and Environmental Contaminants
  • Chemical and Management Injury

Plant Pathogens And Other Biotic Disease Agents

Organize the major biotic disease agents by structure, reproduction, transmission, symptoms, survival, detection, and management.

18 published lessons

  • Overview and Classification of Plant Pathogens
  • Plant Viruses
  • Virus Symptoms, Detection, and Identification
  • Virus Transmission and Vector Relationships
  • Virus Disease Management
  • Viroids
  • Plant-Pathogenic Bacteria
  • Bacterial Symptoms and Important Disease Types
  • Bacterial Identification, Variation, and Management
  • Fastidious Vascular Bacteria
  • Phytoplasmas and Spiroplasmas
  • Fungi as Plant Pathogens
  • Major Groups of True Fungi
  • Ascomycete and Anamorphic Plant Pathogens
  • Basidiomycete Plant Pathogens
  • Oomycetes and Fungal-Like Pathogens
  • Plant-Pathogenic Protists and Plasmodiophorids
  • Parasitic Flowering Plants

Disease Cycle, Pathogenesis, Resistance, Epidemiology, And Management

Explain how pathogens survive, reach hosts, penetrate, infect, colonize, reproduce, cause symptoms, vary genetically, produce epidemics, encounter host defenses, and are managed.

14 published lessons

  • Plant Disease Cycle
  • Pathogen Survival and Sources of Inoculum
  • Dissemination and Inoculation
  • Penetration, Infection, and Colonization
  • Monocyclic, Polycyclic, and Polyetic Diseases
  • Mechanisms of Pathogenicity
  • Pathogen Enzymes, Toxins, and Growth Regulators
  • Preformed Plant Defenses
  • Induced Plant Defenses
  • Genetics of Host and Pathogen Interaction
  • Plant Disease Epidemiology
  • Disease Progress, Measurement, and Forecasting
  • Principles of Plant Disease Management
  • Fungicides and Fungicide Resistance Management

Principles Of Entomology And Acarology

Build the anatomical, developmental, taxonomic, and acarological foundations used to identify insects and mites and predict their feeding injury and vulnerable life stages.

14 published lessons

  • Characteristics of Insects and Other Arthropods
  • Insect Body Wall, Molting, and Growth
  • Insect Head, Orientation, Eyes, and Sensory Structures
  • Insect Mouthparts and Feeding Injury
  • Insect Antennae
  • Insect Thorax, Legs, and Leg Modifications
  • Insect Wings and Wing Modifications
  • Insect Abdomen and Internal Systems
  • Insect Metamorphosis
  • Types of Insect Larvae and Pupae
  • Insect Reproduction and Life-History Strategies
  • Insect Classification, Nomenclature, and Identification
  • Agriculturally Important Insect Orders
  • Mites and Acarology

Arthropod Pest Ecology, Injury, Assessment, And Important Crop Pest Complexes

Connect arthropod biology, behavior, injury, vectoring, sampling, and crop specific pest complexes to practical identification and management decisions.

13 published lessons

  • Modes of Insect Injury
  • Insect Behavior and Pest Management
  • Insects as Plant Disease Vectors
  • Arthropod Pest Sampling
  • Stored-Product Insects
  • Rice Pest and Disease Complexes
  • Corn Pest and Disease Complexes
  • Sugarcane Pest and Disease Complexes
  • Coconut, Banana, and Abaca Pest Complexes
  • Mango, Citrus, and Pineapple Pest Complexes
  • Coffee and Cacao Pest Complexes
  • Legume, Root Crop, and Fiber Crop Pest Complexes
  • Pest Identification by Crop Injury and Life Stage

Natural Enemies And Biological Control

Develop rapid recognition of predators, parasitoids, entomopathogens, biological control strategies, conservation practices, release methods, and limitations.

8 published lessons

  • Natural Regulation of Pest Populations
  • Predators
  • Parasitoids
  • Entomopathogens
  • Types of Biological Control
  • Mass Rearing, Release, and Evaluation
  • Conservation of Natural Enemies
  • Risks and Limitations of Biological Control

Rodents, Birds, Mollusks, And Invasive Species

Cover the biology, identification, damage, surveillance, and integrated management of rodents, birds, mollusks, scale insects, mealybugs, and invasive pest species.

9 published lessons

  • Rodent Biology and Identification
  • Rodent Damage, Assessment, and Management
  • Rodenticide Principles
  • Avian Pests
  • Mollusk Pests
  • Invasive Species Concepts
  • Detection and Response to Invasive Pests
  • Invasive Mollusks, Scale Insects, Mealybugs, and Other Arthropods
  • Invasive-Species Case Studies

Weed Science And Integrated Weed Management

Build weed identification, classification, ecology, population dynamics, competition, allelopathy, assessment, and integrated management skills.

17 published lessons

  • Definition, Scope, and Economic Importance of Weed Science
  • Characteristics of Successful Weeds
  • Classification by Gross Morphology
  • Classification by Life Cycle and Growth Habit
  • Weed Reproduction and Vegetative Propagules
  • Weed Seed Banks
  • Weed-Seed Dormancy and Germination
  • Weed Dispersal
  • Crop and Weed Competition
  • Critical Period for Weed Control
  • Allelopathy
  • Weed Survey, Identification, and Assessment
  • Major Weeds of Philippine Production Systems
  • Preventive and Cultural Weed Management
  • Mechanical and Physical Weed Management
  • Biological Weed Control
  • Herbicides and Integrated Weed Management

Pesticide Science, Toxicology, Safe Use, And Resistance Management

Develop pesticide terminology, formulation, label, toxicology, exposure, environmental fate, residue, mode of action, stewardship, regulation, and resistance management knowledge.

16 published lessons

  • Definition and Classification of Pesticides
  • Active Ingredient, Formulation, and Commercial Product
  • Pesticide Formulations
  • Adjuvants and Spray Supplements
  • Pesticide Labels
  • Toxicity and Hazard
  • Pesticide Exposure Prevention and First Response
  • Environmental Fate of Pesticides
  • Effects on Nontarget Organisms
  • Residues, Preharvest Interval, Restricted-Entry Interval, and MRL
  • Pesticide Storage, Transport, and Disposal
  • Insecticide Modes of Action
  • Fungicide Modes of Action
  • Herbicide Modes of Action
  • Pesticide Resistance
  • Philippine Pesticide Regulation and Current Verification

Application Equipment, Calibration, And Pesticide Calculations

Build equipment selection, nozzle, droplet, calibration, rate, dilution, tank load, granule, seed treatment, and fumigant computation skills.

11 published lessons

  • Types of Application Equipment
  • Sprayer Parts and Functions
  • Nozzles, Droplets, and Spray Patterns
  • Principles of Sprayer Calibration
  • Application-Rate Computation
  • Tank Coverage and Number of Loads
  • Product-Rate Calculations
  • Active-Ingredient Calculations
  • Percentage and Ratio Dilutions
  • Granule, Seed-Treatment, and Fumigant Calculations
  • Common Calculation and Calibration Traps

Integrated Pest Management And Crop-Specific Decision Systems

Integrate pest identification, ecology, monitoring, thresholds, regulatory, genetic, cultural, behavioral, physical, biological, and chemical tactics into crop specific and area wide programs.

11 published lessons

  • Definition, Philosophy, and History of IPM
  • Components of an IPM Program
  • ETL-Based IPM versus Agroecosystem Analysis
  • Regulatory and Legal Control
  • Genetic and Host-Plant Manipulation
  • Cultural and Habitat Manipulation
  • Behavioral, Mechanical, and Physical Control
  • Biological and Microbial Pest Management
  • Chemical Control Within IPM
  • IPM for Philippine Crop Systems
  • Area-Wide and Community-Based Pest Management

Biotechnology, Digital Crop Protection, Climate Change, And Integrated Review

Extend core Crop Protection into biotechnology, precision systems, remote sensing, drones, artificial intelligence, climate change, resistance, organic and urban systems, integrated diagnosis, and final synthesis.

9 published lessons

  • Biotechnology in Crop Protection
  • Precision and Smart Crop Protection
  • Remote Sensing, Drones, and Artificial Intelligence
  • Climate Change and Pest Dynamics
  • Resistance Management Across Pest Groups
  • Crop Protection Under Organic and Low-Input Systems
  • Crop Protection in Urban Farming
  • Integrated Diagnostic Cases
  • Final Crop Protection Synthesis