Integrated Pest Management

• Pioneer in recommending economic threshold (ETH) level for insect pest management in cotton and rice
• First institute in giving recommendation on monitoring of bollworms and tobacco caterpillar with sex pheromone in cotton
• First state to include Insecticide Resistance Management strategies for cotton insect pests
• Mating disruption technology recommended for management of pink bollworm in cotton
• National level strategy for management of whitefly and mealybug in cotton was developed and disseminated among farmers in Punjab
• Developed non-chemicals approaches (botanicals, yellow sticky trap, cultural and mechanical control) for management of whitefly and pink bollworm in cotton
• Developed and disseminated IPM technologies against key insect and mite pests of cotton, rice, sugarcane, maize, pulses, and horticultural crops
• Male annihilation technique using cue lure based PAU fruit fly traps recommended for the management of fruit fly in bitter gourd and sponge gourd
• Recommended economic threshold (ETH) level for insect pest management in vegetable crops to reduce pesticide load (ETL established for jassid and spotted bollworm in okra, whitefly in brinjal)
• Developed non-chemicals approaches (botanicals, cultural and mechanical control) for eco-friendly management of insect pests in vegetable crops
• Determination of pest status of new insects namely whitefly in brinjal, cucurbits and okra; fruit borer in chilli and capsicum

Biological control

• Biocontrol technologies using Trichogramma spp recommended for the management of various pests in sugarcane, maize and organic rice
• Development and validation of bio-intensive pest management modules using cultural, mechanical, botanical and biocontrol against borers in litchi and guava
• Bacillus thuringiensis based biopesticides recommended for the management of diamondback moth in cole crops, fall armyworm in maize and gram caterpillar in chickpea
• HaNPV based biopesticide recommended against gram caterpillar in chickpea
• Neem-based insecticides recommended for the management of stem borers, leaf folder and plant hoppers in rice/basmati rice and against leafhopper in okra
• Documentation of natural enemies associated with insect pests in sugarcane, maize, rice, cotton, wheat, gram, oilseeds and vegetable crops
• Standardized mass production protocol for Corcyra cephalonica and egg parasitoids, Trichogramma
• Large-scale dissemination of proven biocontrol technologies at farmers’ field in sugarcane (in collaboration with sugar mills), maize and rice resulted in significant impact with respect to reduction in pest incidence, higher yields and economic benefits 
• Supply of nucleus culture of bioagents to SAUs/Institutes, sugarmills and State biocontrol labs within and outside the state
• Best All India Coordinated Research Project Centre Award (2020-21) from ICAR-National Bureau of Agricultural Insect Resources, Bengaluru and Best Institutional Team Award (Biological Control) (2025) from Entomological Science Academy, Sher-e- Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology, Jammu

Acarology

• Forecasting model for brown wheat mite, Petrobia lateens on rainfed wheat and distribution in North-West India was prepared
• Avoidable crop losses were found to be 21.61% in chilli 7.42% in nethouse capsicum,26.05% in okra and20.09 % in brinjal
• Based on the bases of host plant resistance, chilli genotypes YB- 583, SL-696, and FLP-640 were found resistant to yellow mite and thrips
• Biochemical and molecular basis of resistance in Tetranychus urticae revealed highest resistance to fenazaquin
• Seven recommendations for the management of mites on vegetable crops has been given in Package and Practice for vegetable crops
• Eco friendly approaches namely homemade neem fruit extract @ 5 kg/acre, PAU homemade neem extract 1600ml/acre and PAU homemade Dharek 1400ml/acre against mites on capsicum, cucumber and okra, respectively
• Management of citrus psylla, thrips and mites with 10 litres of Soybean oil or 10 litres of cotton oil + 1.25 Kg of detergent powder (surfactant) in 500 litres of water per acre in citrus
• Management of mites with Omite 57EC(propargite) @ 300 ml/acre on brinjal; omite 57EC (propargite) @ 200ml/acre or Oberon 22.9SC (spiromesifen) @ 100ml/acre on capsicum and Oberon 22.9SC (spiromesifen) @ 150ml/acre on okra
• Chilli hybrid (CH-27), two chilli varieties (Punjab Tej and Punjab Sindhuri), capsicum hybrid (Bharat), turmeric varieties (PH-3 and PH-4) were recommended low tunnel technology for production of cucumber and capsicum based on the screening against mites
• Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) Ludhiana Centre has been bestowed with the “Second Best Research Centre Award” by the ICAR, New Delhi in 2025

Toxicology

• Pesticide Residue Analysis laboratory has been accreditated by the National Accreditation Board for Testing & Calibration Laboratories (NABL) since 2010 and is the first laboratory among State Agricultural Universities (SAU’s) to be awarded such a recognition
• Sensitive and cost effective analytical methodologies for estimation of residues of crop pesticide combinations were standardized at ppm and ppb levels to study the dissipation and persistence of pesticides
• Pesticide residues were monitored in various food and feed commodities of the environment to estimate frequency and magnitude of pesticide contamination
• Laboratory studies revealed sub lethal impacts of imidacloprid on Apismellifera bees with effects on its memory, thus leading to decline in colony strength and foraging abilities of bees
• The method to detect insecticide resistance in Plutella xylostella has been adopted by FAO.
• On the basis of data generated on the frequency and magnitude of DDT and HCH residues in different food commodities, a comprehensive report was submitted by this laboratory to the Govt. of India. As a result, the use of both these insecticides was banned in agriculture.

Insect ecology, physiology and molecular biology

• Pioneer work in the construction of life-tables of maize borer, Chilo partellus was conducted and the key mortality factors were identified for its management
• Established Economic Threshold Level (ETL) for jassid and spotted bollworm in okra, whitefly in brinjal and thrips in cotton
• Developed IPM technology for management of Fall armyworm: An invasive insects on maize 
• Construction of life tables of Helicoverpa armigera in tomato, Pieris brassicae in cauliflower and Bemisia tabaci in cotton for determining the key mortality factors with ultimate goal of their management
• DNA barcode data of 280 insects, mites, spiders, fungus and bacteria have been submitted to NCBI GenBank Database
• Whitefly population from Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan were characterized AsiaII_1 cryptic species through molecular techniques
• PAUBt and a local isolate of Beauveria bassiana (BbR2) was isolated from Punjab and characterized
• Pioneered the research work on extraction and bioassay of female sex pheromones of rice moth and Angoumois grain moth
• Influence of various stress factors viz. water deficit, nutrients and insecticides on the biology and physiology of mustard aphid, Lipaphis erysismi were conducted
• Toxic and developmental effects of several Insect Growth Regulators, new molecules with novel modes of action (neonicotinoids, cartap hydrochloride, diafenthiuron emamectin benzoate, indoxacarb, spinosad, chlorantraniliprole, cartap hydrochloride and dipel) and natural plant products (neem and dharek) were determined on erysimi , Spodoptera litura , Helicoverpa armigera, Plutella xylostella, and Bemisia tabaci
• Mechanism of behavioural resistance studied in xylostella revealed maximum level of resistance in fenvalerate.
• Toxicity, antifeedant effects and sub-lethal influences of Azadirachta indica and spinetoram on development and reproductive parameters of frugiperda and cyantraniliprole on S. litura has been determined

Apiculture

• Mass queen bee rearing using cup kit system proved to be better than Karl Jenter and Doolittle techniques for queen bee rearing.
• Apis mellifera colonies with high hygienic behaviour contributes to the colony’s resistance towards V. destructor mite thereby reduces chemicals use.
• Variability in Apis mellifera colonies for less stinging behaviour revealed that only 10% of the colonies qualified to have least defensive behaviour which provides opportunity for breeding bees for less stinging tendency.
• Selective breeding of mellifera colonies for less stinging tendency revealed that 62 per cent colonies headed by F1 queen bees showed least stinging compared to only 10 per cent in the original stock thus depicting defensive behaviour to be heritable.
• Integrated management of Varroa destructor in Apis mellifera colonies developed
• Apoids Amegilla cingulata,Bombus haemorrhoidalis, Halictus propinquus, Lipotriches fulvinerva, Nomia crassipes and Megachile binghami were recorded for the first time from the Punjab state. 
• Installation of bee venom collector on 8 or more bee-frame strength Apis mellifera colonies at weekly interval for the highest bee venom collection.