BookAkshay Kumar Chakravarthy, Venkatesan Selvanarayanan, editors.
Summary: 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.
Contents:
Intro; Foreword; Preface; Acknowledgements; Contents; Editors and Contributors; Part I: Prerequisites for Host Plant Resistance Studies; Introduction; 1 Introduction; 2 Early Success; 3 Role in Pest Management; References; Further Reading; Germplasm Exploration and Collection; 1 Introduction; 2 Major Sources of Crop Germplasm; 2.1 Banana/Plantain, Musa spp.; 2.2 Barley, Hordeum vulgare; Oat, Avena sativa; and Rye, Secale cereale; 2.3 Bean, Phaseolus Species, and Cowpea, Vigna Species; 2.4 Capsicum; 2.5 Castor; 2.6 Cassava, Manihot esculenta 2.7 Chickpea, Cicer arietinum, and Lentil, Lens culinaris2.8 Citrus; 2.9 Coconut; 2.10 Cotton; 2.11 Maize; 2.12 Mango; 2.13 Peanut; 2.14 Peas, Pisum; 2.15 Potato; 2.16 Rice; 2.17 Sesame, Sesamum Species; 2.18 Sorghum, Sorghum Species; 2.19 Soybean, Glycine max; 2.20 Spices (Black Pepper, Cardamom); 2.21 Sugarcane, Saccharum Species; 2.22 Sunflower; 2.23 Sweet Potato, Ipomoea batatas; 2.24 Tomato, Lycopersicon Species; 2.25 Wheat, Triticum aestivum; References; Further Reading; Comparison of Germplasm Evaluation Parameters; 1 Introduction; References; Further Reading 3.3 Larval Rearing Containers3.4 Oviposition Chambers; 4 Diamondback Moth (DBM), Plutella xylostella; 4.1 Materials Required; 4.2 The Rearing Procedure Is as Follows; 5 Cotton Aphid, Aphis gossypii; 5.1 Materials Required; 5.2 The Aphids Can Be Reared as Follows; 6 Bhendi Leafhopper, Amrasca devastans; 6.1 Materials Required; 6.2 Procedure; 7 Green Leafhopper, Nephotettix spp., and Brown Planthopper, Nilaparvata lugens; 7.1 Materials Required; 7.2 Procedure; 8 Whiteflies, Bemisia tabaci; 8.1 Materials Required; 8.2 Procedure; References; Further Reading Determining Relative Abundance and Distribution Patterns of Insect Pests1 Introduction; 2 Distribution Patterns, Sample Size and Sampling; 3 The Steps Are as Follows; 4 Sample Size; 5 Number of Larvae in Damaged Fruiting Structures; References; Further Reading; Mass Culturing of Phytophagous Insects for Host Plant Resistance Studies; 1 Introduction; 2 Tobacco Caterpillar, Spodoptera litura (Muthukumaran and Selvanarayanan 2008); 2.1 Materials Required; 2.2 Procedure; 3 Tomato Fruit Worm, Helicoverpa armigera (Arivudainambi and Selvanarayanan 2000); 3.1 Materials Required; 3.2 Artificial Diet Part II: Instrumentation in Host Plant Resistance StudiesLaboratory Equipments Used for Host-Plant Resistance Studies; 1 Introduction; 2 Electroantennogram; 3 EthoVision; References; Further Reading; Electroantennogram for Recording Olfactory Responses of an Insect to Plant Volatiles; 1 Introduction; References; Further Reading; Standardization of Feeding Tests in Phytophagous Insects to Host and Nonhost Plants; 1 Introduction; References; Further Reading; Wind Tunnel: A Tool to Test the Flight Response of Insects to Semiochemicals; 1 Introduction; 1.1 Structure of Wind Tunnel (Kainoh 2011)