Proteinase inhibitors (PIs) are natural defense proteins of plants found to be active against gut proteases of various insects. A pigeonpea wild relative Cajanus platycarpus was identified as a source of resistance against Helicoverpa armigera, a most devastating pest of several crops including pigeonpea. In the light of earlier studies, trypsin-specific PIs (CpPI 63) were purified from mature ...

The introduction of an agricultural pest species into a new environment is a potential threat to agroecosystems of the invaded area. The phytosanitary concern is even greater if the introduced pest's phenotype expresses traits that will impair the management of that species. The invasive tomato borer, Tuta absoluta (Meyrick) (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae), is one such species and the characterizati...

An examination of oviposition choices by the lesser peachtree borer, Synanthedon pictipes (Grote and Robinson) (Lepidoptera: Sesiidae), showed that wounded peach, Prunus persica (L.) Batsch, bark was attractive to females for oviposition. Females responded to bark that was injured mechanically (e.g., hammer blows, knife cuts, pruning wounds), infested by lesser peachtree borer larvae or injured...

Insect pests are a major cause of crop loss globally. Pest management will be effective and efficient if we can predict the occurrence of peak activities of a given pest. Research efforts are going on to understand the pest dynamics by applying analytical and other techniques on pest surveillance data sets. In this study we make an effort to understand pest population dynamics using Neural Netw...