Scope of Fly Ash Application as a Replacement for Chemical Pesticides for Pest Control in Certain Crop Pockets of Neyveli and Virudhachalam Regions in Tamil Nadu, India

In an attempt to probe for alternate techniques in place of chemical pesticides consumed in various crop fields and their retention as residues in agricultural soils and various water resources used in irrigation, soil and water samples were gathered from two locations, Neyveli and Virudhachalam adjacent to Neyveli Lignite Corporation India (NLCIL), Neyveli, Tamil Nadu, India, during off-season. Samples were drawn from the fields cropped with rice, sugarcane, cashew nut, mango, groundnut, gingelly intensively grown in this tract, and water samples were gathered from borewells, irrigation canals, lignite mine water, open wells and natural water and analysed for the residues of pesticides. Results revealed that the soil samples drawn from the cropped fields contained various molecules of different groups of pesticides particularly Quinalphos, Endosulfan, Deltamethrin and Etrimphos, whereas the water samples hardly had pesticide molecules. The findings are interpreted to the role of fly ash as dust insecticide found effective from our laboratory against various pests of crops shows promise and appropriateness in the context of replacing chemical pesticides use in agricultural fields. Various chemical pesticides especially of the dust, granule and wettable powder formulations could be dispensed within the event of the fly ash used as a carrier. As a whole, it is inferred that fly ash use in pest control in different crops in agriculture has immense value in the context of protecting the environment and agricultural produces from the chemical pesticides.