Integrated Biocontrol Synergy between Plant Extracts &Natural Enemies

The ancient man had deployed different methods of control, including prayers, magic spells, cultivation systems, mechanical practices as well as application of organic and inorganic substances to protect his crops from the attack of weeds, diseases and insect pests. Between 500 BC and the 19th century a number of substances classified as pesticides and defined as" any substances or mixture of substances intended for preventing, destroying, repelling or mitigating any pest" were used to control pests . They included sulphur, arsenic, lead and mercury. In 1874 DDT (dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane) was synthesized and during the second half of World War II its insecticidal activity was discovered and was effectively used to control malaria and typhus diseases among the troops. It became the first synthetic organic pesticide and was used after the war for agricultural purposes. There is no doubt that the use of insecticides has contributed immensely to the increase in agricultural productivity and to the improvement in human health, particularly the eradication of malaria in the developed countries of the world in the 20th century and beyond.