Genetic Technologies for Sustainable Management of Insect Pests and Disease Vectors

Wolbachia-based strategies to control insect pests and disease vectors

* Author for correspondence: Mailing address: S-225 Ag. Science Center North Lexington, KY 40546 USA. Tel: (859)-257-5117; Fax: (859)-323-1120. Email: [email protected] Abstract. Wolbachia are a group of obligate intracellular maternally inherited bacteria that have been found in several arthropod groups including spiders, terrestrial crustaceans, and insects, in addition to filarial nematodes. I...

Insect pests of tea and their management.

Globally, 1031 species of arthropods are associated with the intensively managed tea Camellia sinensis (L.) O. Kuntze monoculture. All parts of the plant, leaf, stem, root, flower, and seed, are fed upon by at least one pest species, resulting in an 11%-55% loss in yield if left unchecked. There has been heavy use of organosynthetic pesticides since the 1950s to defend the plant against these p...

Insect and Disease Pests of Southern Hardwoods

In natural stands, trunk borers are economically the most serious insect pests. The larvae construct galleries in the trunks of living trees, causing the greatest damage in the lower portion (Beal 1952; Hay and Wootten 1955). The quality of the butt log, which is potentially the most valuable portion of the tree, is greatly reduced. Oaks suffer more damage than other hardwoods in the South (Hay...

Sustainable Management of Invertebrate Rice Pests

Genetic engineering of rice for resistance to homopteran insect pests

The rice brown planthopper (BPH; Nilaparvata lugens) is a serious pest of rice crops throughout Asia, damaging plants both through its feeding behavior and by acting as a virus vector. Like many homopteran pests of crops, it is primarily a phloem feeder, abstracting sap via specially adapted mouthparts. An artificial diet bioassay system for this pest was developed to allow the effects of poten...