Molecular Host Plant Resistance to Pests examines environmentally safe and integrated techniques for effective pest management. Offering more than 1500 references for further exploration of the topic, this reference details the bioactivity, biosynthetic pathways, mechanisms of action, and genetic regulation for improved methods of crop protection a
Integrated Pest Management: Current Concepts and Ecological Perspective presents an overview of alternative measures to traditional pest management practices using biological control and biotechnology. The removal of some highly effective broad-spectrum chemicals, caused by concerns over environmental health and public safety, has resulted in the development of alternative, reduced risk crop protection products. These products, less toxic to the environment and easily integrated into biological control systems, target specific life stages or pest species. Predation — recognized as a suitable, long-term strategy — effectively suppresses pests in biotechnological control systems. Integrated Pest Management covers these topics and more. It explores the current ecological approaches in alternative solutions, such as biological control agents, parasites and predators, pathogenic microorganisms, pheromones and natural products as well as ecological approaches for managing invasive pests, rats, suppression of weeds, safety of pollinators, role of taxonomy and remote sensing in IPM and future projections of IPM. This book is a useful resource to entomologists, agronomists, horticulturists, and environmental scientists. - Fills a gap in the literature by providing critical analysis of different management strategies that have a bearing on agriculture, sustainability and environmental protection - Synthesizes research and practice on integrated pest management - Emphasizes an overview of management strategies, with critical evaluation of each in the larger context of ecologically based pest management
Sadasivam and Thayumanavan (both of the Center for Plant Molecular Biology, Tamil Nadu Agricultural U., India) catalogue known information regarding plant-borne chemicals that seem to be associated with pest resistance. They cover chemical structures, biosynthesis, bioactivity, mechanism of action.
This book offers a range of environmentally benign molecular mechanisms which are safer alternative strategies for effective insect pest management. In modern era of biotechnology, there has been much advancement in the field of molecular biology, where many more techniques have evolved which can be helpful in the field of pest management too. Plant resistance, development of transgenic plants, and many more techniques are being considered the panacea to pest problems. On the other hand, there are wide spread concerns of the safety of biotechnological interventions with nontarget organisms including humans. While the world stands divided on the ethical issues of these approaches and the many safety concerns, scientists believe that well thought of biotechnological interventions are probably the only safest ways possible for reducing pest attacks on crops. It explores various techniques and aspects related to molecular pathways for crop pest control. This book is a useful resource for postgraduate students and researchers of agriculture sciences, plant pathology and plant physiology. It is also useful for policy planners in agriculture.
Arthropod resistant crops reduce pesticide pollution, alleviate hunger and improve human nutrition. This book reviews new information on environmental advantages of plant resistance, transgenic resistance, molecular bases of resistance, and use of molecular markers to map resistance genes.
Authored by an integrated committee of plant and animal scientists, this review of newer molecular genetic techniques and traditional research methods is presented as a compilation of high-reward opportunities for agricultural research. Directed to the Agricultural Research Service and the agricultural research community at large, the volume discusses biosciences research in genetic engineering, animal science, plant science, and plant diseases and insect pests. An optimal climate for productive research is discussed.
This book reviews and synthesizes the recent advances in exploiting host plant resistance to insects, highlighting the role of molecular techniques in breeding insect resistant crops. It also provides an overview of the fascinating field of insect-plant relationships, which is fundamental to the study of host-plant resistance to insects. Further, it discusses the conventional and molecular techniques utilized/useful in breeding for resistance to insect-pests including back-cross breeding, modified population improvement methods for insect resistance, marker-assisted backcrossing to expedite the breeding process, identification and validation of new insect-resistance genes and their potential for utilization, genomics, metabolomics, transgenesis and RNAi. Lastly, it analyzes the successes, limitations and prospects for the development of insect-resistant cultivars of rice, maize, sorghum and millet, cotton, rapeseed, legumes and fruit crops, and highlights strategies for management of insect biotypes that limit the success and durability of insect-resistant cultivators in the field. Arthropod pests act as major constraints in the agro-ecosystem. It has been estimated that arthropod pests may be destroying around one-fifth of the global agricultural production/potential production every year. Further, the losses are considerably higher in the developing tropics of Asia and Africa, which are already battling severe food shortage. Integrated pest management (IPM) has emerged as the dominant paradigm for minimizing damage by the insects and non-insect pests over the last 50 years. Pest resistant cultivars represent one of the most environmentally benign, economically viable and ecologically sustainable options for utilization in IPM programs. Hundreds of insect-resistant cultivars of rice, wheat, maize, sorghum, cotton, sugarcane and other crops have been developed worldwide and are extensively grown for increasing and/or stabilizing crop productivity. The annual economic value of arthropod resistance genes developed in global agriculture has been estimated to be greater than US$ 2 billion Despite the impressive achievements and even greater potential in minimizing pest- related losses, only a handful of books have been published on the topic of host-plant resistance to insects. This book fills this wide gap in the literature on breeding insect- resistant crops. It is aimed at plant breeders, entomologists, plant biotechnologists and IPM experts, as well as those working on sustainable agriculture and food security.
The earliest land-plants evolved around 450 million years ago from aquatic plants devoid of vascular systems. The diversification of flowering plants (angiosperms) during the Cretaceous period is associated with speciation in insects. Early insect herbivores were mandibulate, but the evolution of vascular plants led to the co-evolution of other forms of herbivory, such as leaf feeding, sap-sucking, leaf mining, tissue borer, gall forming and nectar-feeding. Plant defense against biotic stress is an adaptive evolution by plants to increase their fitness. Plants use a variety of strategies to defend against damage caused by herbivores. Plant defense mechanisms are either inbuilt or induced. Inbuilt mechanisms are always present within the plant, while induced defenses are produced or mobilized to the site where a plant is injured. Induced defense mechanisms include morphological, physiological changes and production of secondary metabolites. Host plant resistance (HPR) is one of the eco-friendly methods of pest management. It protects the crop by making it less suitable or tolerant to the pest. While books on theoretical aspects of HPR are available, an exclusive book on the practical aspects is lacking. There is a wide gap between the theory and the experimental procedures required for conducting studies on plant resistance for the post graduate students and young researchers. A dire need for a book on practical aspects was strongly felt. Initially a practical manual was prepared which eventually evolved into the present book. We hope this book provides information on major aspects of screening crop germplasm, sampling techniques, genetic and biochemical basis of HPR, behavioural studies on pheromone and plant volatiles, and some of the recent approaches in HPR. Further, the references provide the scientific articles and books as additional information to readers and workers alike.
As food producers, plants are constantly under attack by insects. Over the course of evolution, plants have not only developed a sophisticated defense apparatus but have also refined biochemical defense mechanisms to protect themselves, thereby maintaining the ecological balance. Plant-pest interactions induce an elaborate array of reactions involving the release of volatile compounds, effector and signaling molecules, trans-membrane proteins, and a variety of enzymes and hormones. This book offers a comprehensive guide to the strategies that plants employ against insects and other pests to ensure their continued survival. Addressing an important gap in the literature, it shares the latest findings in the field of plant–pest interactions for a broad audience. Providing an overview of the current state of knowledge on plant-pest interactions and their role in the genetic improvement of crops, it offers an essential guide for researchers and professionals in the fields of agriculture, plant pathology, entomology, cell biology, molecular biology and genetics.
The book offers an integrated overview of plant–pathogen interactions. It discusses all the steps in the pathway, from the microbe–host-cell interface and the plant’s recognition of the microbe to the plant’s defense response and biochemical alterations to achieve tolerance / resistance. It also sheds light on the classes of pathogens (bacteria, fungus and viruses); effector molecules, such as PAMPs; receptor molecules like PRRs and NBS-LRR proteins; signaling components like MAPKs; regulatory molecules, such as phytohormones and miRNA; transcription factors, such as WRKY; defense-related proteins such as PR-proteins; and defensive metabolites like secondary metabolites. In addition, it examines the role of post-genomics, high-throughput technology (transcriptomics and proteomics) in studying pathogen outbreaks causing crop losses in a number of plants. Providing a comprehensive picture of plant-pathogen interaction, the updated information included in this book is valuable for all those involved in crop improvement.
