Research Projects

Chemical control of agricultural pests is a common practice worldwide, but its adverse effects on soil, environment, and food products are concerning. Mosquito-borne arboviral diseases pose major human health concerns globally. Chemical insecticides are widely used to control pests, but unrestrained and unmanaged use can lead to health hazards and insecticide resistance. The proposed research aims to develop environmentally sustainable and cost-effective biocontrol strategies to contain agricultural pest and disease-carrying vector populations. Classical biological control (CBC) is a cost-effective alternative to chemical control, but complete eradication becomes difficult. Sterile insect technique (SIT) is an environment-friendly approach for suppressing or eradicating target insect species. Other biological vector control strategies include dominant lethal gene (RIDL), Trojan female technique (TFT), and Wolbachia technique. Each has its advantages and disadvantages, but none alone would eliminate the target insect population. Combining biocontrol strategies is hypothesized to be more effective in eradicating agricultural pest populations and controlling vector-borne diseases. Mathematical models will be used to investigate the eradication efficacy of augmentative biocontrol strategies that integrate CBC with ionizing radiation-based SIT (CBC-SIT), RIDL technique in combination with CBC (CBC-RIDL), and RIDL technique with Wolbachia-based approach (RIDL-IIT). The goal is to identify efficient and sustainable integrated pest and vector management strategies.