Managing Insect Pests in Millets: Harnessing Host Plant Resistance in Integrated Pest Management

Insect pests are major constraints in the production of millets. Proper identification and timely management of insects are important to protect the crops. Chemical insecticides are being applied for the management of insect pests in high yielding varieties of millets. An integrated approach has to be followed for sustainable pest control, minimizing the reliance on chemical insecticides in millet crops. Ecology, evolutionary pest biology, knowledge of the local agro-ecosystem, host plant resistance and utilization of natural enemies must become the components of integrated pest management strategy for holistic management of pests in millets. A combination of cultural practices, resistant cultivars has proved to be effective in pest management. Plant defenses have generally been assumed to be constitutive, being always expressed in the plant. Host plant resistance is a reasonable and ecologically safe method wherein resistance mechanisms of crops could lower the insect infestation. The foremost challenge in understanding the mechanism would be to detect the genes of interest in the crop using novel biotechnological approaches. The fundamental criterion for developing insect-resistant lines relies on recognizing the mechanism of plant resistance. Recently it has come to be realized that induced responses reduce insect survival, reproductive output as well as the performance of the pest, so that the plant benefits from such responses. It is an important component of integrated pest management, which can be triggered by biotic or abiotic elicitors, and can be used very effectively when combined with selective pesticides and induced resistance techniques. Induced response in plants is one of the important components of pest control in agriculture, and has been exploited for regulation of insect herbivore population. Plants often increase their resistance to herbivores by locally increasing the production of defensive compounds at the site of damage, as well as systemically on undamaged leaves. Induced resistance in crop protection to herbivore pests have not exploited the full potential of induced resistance for agriculture. Hence, in this review, an attempt has been made to provide details on integrated pest management, host plant resistance, induced resistance mechanisms against insect pests and its perspectives in integrated pest management.