A six year field study was conducted from 2001–2002 to 2006–2007 at Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, India to study the losses in seed yield of different Brassica species (B. juncea, B. napus, B. carinata, B. rapa and Eruca sativa) by the infestation of insect pests. The experiment was conducted in two different sets viz. protected/sprayed and unprotected, in a randomized block design,...

The exorbitant yield loss incurred by Indian farmers every year (10-90%) in rapeseed-mustard (Brassica juncea) is chiefly attributed to the progressive infestation of mustard fields by Lipaphis erysimi (Kalt.), a major insect pest belonging to the family of Homoptera. Currently there are no successful tolerant cultivars developed by conventional means in Brassica juncea with systemic plant resp...

Aphid (Hemiptera: Aphididae) saliva, when injected into host plants during feeding, causes physiological changes in hosts that facilitate aphid feeding and cause injury to plants. Comparing salivary constituents among aphid species could help identify which salivary products are universally important for general aphid feeding processes, which products are involved with specific host association...

Empirical studies have shown that belowground feeding herbivores can affect the performance of aboveground herbivores in different ways. Often the critical life-history parameters underlying the observed performance effects remain unexplored. In order to better understand the cause for the observed effects on aboveground herbivores, these ecological mechanisms must be better understood. In this...

Aphids are major insect pests for crops, causing damage by direct feeding and transmission of plant diseases. This paper was completed to discover and characterize a novel insecticidal metabolite against aphids from soil actinobacteria. An insecticidal activity assay was used to screen 180 bacterial strains from soil samples against mustard aphid, Lipaphis erysimi. The bacterial strain H008 sho...

In Arabidopsis thaliana, PHYTOALEXIN DEFICIENT 4 (PAD4) functions as a key player in modulating defence against the phloem sap-feeding aphid Myzus persicae (Sülzer), more commonly known as the green peach aphid (GPA), an important pest of a wide variety of plants. PAD4 controls antibiosis and antixenosis against the GPA. In addition, PAD4 deters aphid feeding from sieve elements on Arabidopsis....

Aphid species feeding on lettuce occupy distinct feeding sites: the lettuce aphid Nasonovia ribisnigri prefers to feed on heart leaves, whereas the potato aphid Macrosiphum euphorbiae feeds only on outer leaves. The aphid parasitoid Aphelinus abdominalis, known to be able to regulate M. euphorbiae on many crops, has recently been indicated as a promising biocontrol candidate also for use agains...

In feeding, aphids inject saliva into plant tissues, gaining access to phloem sap and eliciting (and sometimes overcoming) plant responses. We are examining the involvement, in this aphid-plant interaction, of individual aphid proteins and enzymes, as identified in a salivary gland cDNA library. Here, we focus on a salivary protein we have arbitrarily designated Protein C002. We have shown, by ...

Since the introduction of the soybean aphid, Aphis glycines Matsumura, to the soybean growing regions of the United States, the soybean aphid has caused considerable economic damage and yield loss to soybean growers. The objectives of this research were to evaluate selected genotypes for resistance to the soybean aphid and characterize transcriptional changes in response to aphid feeding to bet...