Analysis of Stability, Sensitivity Index and Hopf Bifurcation of Eco-Epidemiological SIR Model under Pesticide Application

Abstract

In this paper, a deterministic SIR plant mathematical model is proposed and analysed with the application of pesticides as a control measure. The primary purpose of this model is to study the role of pesticides in controlling disease prevalence in plant populations. The total plant population is subdivided into three categories: susceptible, infected, and recovered. Pesticides are considered to be applied to both susceptible and infected populations to prevent the spread of infection to unaffected plant populations. It is considered that plant populations can be recovered only through the use of pesticides. To ensure the biological validity and well-defined nature of the model, the positivity, boundedness, uniqueness and existence of solutions are analysed. The basic reproduction number (R0) of the infection is determined and observed that the disease-free equilibrium state is locally asymptotically stable whenever (R0) is less than unity and unstable otherwise. The sensitivity analysis of the basic reproduction number is carried out, and it is observed that the value of R0 decreases as the value of the death rate and the recovery rate of plants increases. Moreover, it is revealed that above a critical parameter value of the infective induce rate, the population starts oscillating periodically, and the endemic equilibrium state becomes unstable. Finally, numerical simulations are conducted in MATLAB software to compare the analytical findings. Overall, the results obtained from this analysis are both novel and significant, making them an intriguing and potentially valuable contribution to the field of theoretical ecology.