Distinguishing Proof and Utilization of Resistance of Insect Pests in Grain Legumes: Progress and Limitations

Abstract

Major food legumes including chickpea, pigeon pea, cowpea, field pea, lentil, faba bean, black gram, green gram, and Phaseolus beans play a vital role in food, nutritional security, and sustainable crop production. Several insect pests damage grain legumes, of which Helicoverpa armigera; Maruca vitrata; Etiella zinckenella; Spodoptera litura and S. exigua; Melanagromyza obtusa; Ophiomyia phaseoli; Aphis craccivora and Bemisia tabaci; Empoasca spp., Megalurothrips dorsalis, and Caliothrips indicus; Mylabris spp.; and Callosobruchus chinensis crusade extensive losses. Appreciable progress has been made in formulating techniques to evaluate germplasm, mapping populations, and genetically modified crops for resistance to insect pests under field and greenhouse conditions. No-choice and dual-choice cage screening techniques, detached leaf assay, and diet incorporation assays have been standardized to screen for resistance to major insect pests in grain legumes. However, some of these techniques cannot be used to screen against stem flies, pod fly, leafhoppers, thrips, and aphids. There is a need to develop methods for mass multiplication of aforesaid insects to undertake precise phenotyping for resistance to these insects. There is a necessity to identify lines with different resistance mechanisms/components of resistance for gene pyramiding to explicate cultivars with the stable source of resistance to insect pests. Prominent levels of resistance to the pod borers have been found in the wild accessions of chickpea, 132 pigeon pea, and cowpea, which can be exploited to introgress genes to heighten the levels and diversify the basis of resistance to insect pests to build host plant resistance a viable component of pest management in grain legumes for sustainable crop production.

Effects of Biotic Stresses and Their Mitigation Strategies in Legumes: A Review

“…The overexpression of the agglutinin gene in chickpea can have a substantial impact on the survival and fertility of cowpea insects (Chakraborti et al, 2009). In addition, transgenic pigeon pea expressing Glycine max trypsin inhibitor and Cry1Ab has been developed (Sharma et al, 2006), but it does not efficiently inhibit H. armigera (Sharma et al, 2017). Transgenic chickpeas expressing an inhibitor of cowpea trypsin (Thu et al, 2003) study with an a-amylase inhibitor (Sarmah et al, 2004) demonstrated bruchid resistance.…”

Breeding potential of lablab [Lablab purpureus (L.) Sweet]: a review on characterization and bruchid studies towards improved production and utilization in Africa

“…They are synthesized into secondary metabolites such as lignins, tannins, phytates, alkaloids, quinines, phenolic acids, saponins and flavonoids found in plant structures such as seed coat and integuments and secrete antinutritional factors such as arcelins, trypsin inhibitors, enzyme inhibitors, lectins, vicilin, cyanogenic glycosides, phytic acid and phaseolin which acts as repellents and feeding inhibitors (Panda et al 1995). This mechanism leads to reduced larval growth, increased larval mortality, and decreased pupal weights, prolonged larval and pupal development periods, low pupation, low fecundity rates and decreased egg viability (Sharma et al 2017;War et al 2013).…”

Biochemical Components Conferring Resistance to Pigeonpea Genotypes against Callosobruchus chinensis (L.) (Coleoptera: Bruchidae) under Semitropical Storage Conditions

“…However, the unpredictability in pigeonpea production due to poor genetic background and damage by insect pests and diseases limits the seed yield of this crop. Under storage conditions, bruchids, C. chinensis and C. maculatus crusade extensive losses to all the food legumes worldwide (Sharma et al, 2017) and causing 40-50% losses of pulses in storage (Gosh and Durbey, 2003). Keeping this in view, the present research focuses mainly on the possibilities of exploring biochemical sources of resistance to bruchids in cultivated as well as wild relatives of pigeonpea.…”