• Certain plant species hyperaccumulate selenium (Se) to 1000 mg kg − 1 d. wt, even from low-Se soils. It is not known whether Se hyperaccumulation offers these plants any advantage. In this study the hypothesis was tested that Se can protect plants from phloem-feeding herbivores. • Indian mustard ( Brassica juncea ) grown with or without Se was subjected to colonization by green peach aphids (...

Mustard aphid, Lipaphis erysimi (L.) Kaltenbach is a perpetual annual threat in the cultivation of rapeseed- mustard (Brassica spp.) crop in tropical and sub-tropical climate. Cultivated Brassica germplasm has failed so far to provide any source of resistance. Wild germplasm is a potential source of resistance against many threatening herbivores. On wild germplasm screening, we noted that the w...

the host plant quality not only influences on herbivorous insects but also indirectly could impact on their natural enemies’ performance. the current study was conducted to determine the effect of different nitrogen fertilization levels of canola (brassica napus l.) on life table parameters of the predatory gall midge, aphidoletes aphidimyza rondani; diptera: cecidomyiidae, in feeding of mustar...

Resistance of four brassica leafy vegetables: kale, Chinese cabbage, rape and Ethiopian mustard to cabbage aphid, Brevicoryne brassicae (L.) was studied in cage experiments at the Botswana College of Agriculture, Gaborone, Botswana. A completely randomised design with cultivars as treatments and four replicates per treatment was used. One newly laid nymph was placed on each of the four potted p...

The homopteran sucking insect, Lipaphis erysimi (mustard aphid) causes severe damage to various crops. This pest not only affects plants by sucking on the phloem, but it also transmits single-stranded RNA luteoviruses while feeding, which cause disease and damage in the crop. The mannose-binding Allium sativum (garlic) leaf lectin has been found to be a potent control agent of L. erysimi. The l...

The pea aphid (Acyrthosiphon pisum Harris), a legume specialist, encompasses at least 11 genetically distinct sympatric host races. Each host race shows a preference for a certain legume species. Six pea aphid clones from three host races were used to localize plant factors influencing aphid probing and feeding behavior on four legume species. Aphid performance was tested by measuring survival ...