Breeding Food Legumes for Resistance to Storage Insect Pests: Potential and Limitations

Abstract

Storage insect pests cause significant losses of food legumes particularly in the Tropics and the Sub-tropics. The most important species of storage insect pests of food legumes include Callosobruchus chinensis, C. maculatus, C. analis, Acanthoscelides obtectus, Bruchus incarnatus, B. rufimanus, B. dentipes, B. quinqueguttatus, B. emarginatus, B. ervi, B. lentis and B. pisorum. Effective post-harvest insect pest control measures should constitute part of the overall crop husbandry practices for preserving the quality of produce. Storage insect pests are commonly controlled using chemical insecticides which, however, bear many drawbacks related to high cost, environmental pollution and food safety risks. Breeding legume crops to improve their resistance against storage insect pests, although having technical limitations, is the best way of overcoming these disadvantages in an environment-friendly manner. In this paper, we present the findings of our extensive reviews on the potential of breeding resistant varieties of food OPEN ACCESS Sustainability 2011, 3 1400 legumes against storage insect pests along with the major technical limitations one would likely encounter and the prospective ways of tackling them.

Achievements and Challenges in Legume Breeding for Pest and Disease Resistance

“…A major class of insect pests is chewing insects of which in the case of legumes the most important tend to be storage insect pests particularly bruchid beetles including Callosobruchus chinensis, C. maculatus, C. analis, Acanthoscelides obtectus and Bruchus incarnates (Keneni et al, 2011). Seeds damaged by storage insect pests suffer from poor germination and are no longer suitable for food.…”

Perspectives and Challenges for Sustainable Management of Fungal Diseases of Mungbean [Vigna radiata (L.) R. Wilczek var. radiata]: A Review

“…Instability and breakdown of disease resistance in mungbean cultivars is a major challenge in breeding programs due to monogenic host resistance and high pathogenic variability (Nair et al, 2017). Integration of disease resistance traits without compromising valuable agronomic traits is a key challenge for mungbean breeders as linkage drags inhibit the proper use of genetic diversity from wild germplasm into the commercial cultivars (Acosta-Gallegos et al, 2008;Keneni et al, 2011). Further, undesired and desired traits co-inheritance may affect on seed quality.…”

Management of Dinoderus porcellus L. (Coleoptera: Bostrichidae) infesting yam chips using varietal resistance and botanical powders of three medicinal plants

“…Botanical control meet these criteria and can act as repellents, feeding deterrents, toxicants, growth retardants, and chemosterilants (Hikal et al, 2017). Similarly, genetical control by the use of resistant varieties have enormous potential to reduce storage insect pest populations, and it is an environment-friendly management option (Keneni et al, 2011). Therefore, the use of botanical pesticides and insect-resistant yam chips to control D. porcellus appear as a promising alternative.…”