Seema Wahab – författare

The Indian neem tree, Azadirachta indica, is the source of a powerful and environmentally friendly bio-pesticide. Neem has been shown to be effective against a broad spectrum of pests. This book gives an overview of the current applications for neem, discusses the position of this product in the global market and the opportunities to promote it as an environmentally-friendly pesticide. In this volume, renowned experts present a global overview of neem applications, efficacy and risk assessment. Topics include the history of the use of neem-based insecticides in North America and Europe, including grower's response and local differences in legislation. In this context, the current position of neem amongst other natural pesticides is discussed. The comprehensive overview given in this book of risks associated with neem-based products is a welcome addition to the current literature, especially given the importance of environmental risk assessment of pesticides. On a more detailed level, reviews are offered on the impact of neem on fungal pathogens, its role in tritrophic interactions and state of the art information about mode of action.This book will be useful to toxicologists, entomologists, phytochemists and agronomists interested in bio-pesticides. Many chapters will also appeal to physiologists dealing with pest-plant interactions, chemical ecology, insect behaviour and integrated pest management.

The chemicals from plant sources, generally termed as phytochemicals, play an important role in acceptance or rejection of the plant by the pests as they could be distasteful or toxic on one hand or on the other hand specialist herbivores have the capability to feed on many such chemicals, as they are able to process these natural products in a manner that is beneficial to them. In the wake of increasing environmental degradation due to burgeoning synthetic chemicals, there has been a process going on to rediscover the usefulness of plants and herbs and a continued effort for more than 2 decades has been to study the green products for cures for several ailments and pest management. In fact, according to Indian Medicinal Plants: A Sectoral Study, the global trade for medicinal plants amounts to about US $ 60 billion and the world demand continues to grow at the rate of 7 per cent per annum. Although many such plants are known in literature, neem has been one of trees with mani-fold virtues. Indian neem tree, Azadirachta indica A. Juss, which is a large evergreen tree, is an outstanding example among plants that has been subject matter of numerous scientific studies concerning its utilization in medicine, industry and agriculture. So far neem preparations have been evaluated against more than 500 species of insects and more than 400 hundred are reported to be susceptible at different concentrations.