Question

How can one do plant breeding for developing resistance to insect pests? Give a few examples to insect resistance characteristics. Also mention the source of pest resistance genes.

Answer 1

Plant breeding is a technique of manipulation of plant species, in order to create desired plant types that are better suited for cultivation, give better yields and are disease resistant.

There are four mechanisms of insect resistance;

• no preference
• antibiotics
• tolerance
• avoidance or escape.

Insects cause several damages in crops such as;

• Reduction in plant growth or stunting
• Damage of vegetative and reproductive parts
• Premature defoliation
• Wilting of plants

Mechanism of insect control may take place through methods like the

• biological method
• chemical method
• changing of the morphological characters.

Breeding methods of insect resistant plants involve the same steps as the plants designed for yield and quality.For example:

1. Hairy leaves in several plants are associated withresistance to insect pests, e.g, resistance to jassids in cotton and cereal leaf beetle in wheat.
2. In wheat, solid stems lead to non-preference by the stem sawfly and smooth leaved and nectar-less cotton varieties do not attract insects.