Crop Protection
Pest

• An insect whose population increases to such an extent as to cause economic losses to crops or a nuisance and health hazard to man and livestock is termed as an insect pest.
  
  
• An insect may be a pest at one place but may not be so at another place.
  
  
• Insects injure plants by feeding on them and laying eggs in plant tissues. Losses from insect feeding
  may be direct or indirect.
  
  
• An orbitary limit of a pest population responsible to cause 5 per cent loss in any crops yield, is called
  the pest status.
  
  
• Insects that cause a loss of 5 to 10 per cent are considered minor pests and those that cause a loss
  of 10 per cent and above are considered to be major pests.