The book covers the advanced concepts and creative ideas on the postgenomic tool of RNAi that received the Nobel Prize in 2006. Emphasis was placed on the mechanisms of RNAi, the core machinery and the applications in agriculture. This book covers contributions from academia, industry and Goverment regulatory authorities. Applications to control major important pest insects, as for example western corn rootworm with use of transgenic plant RNAi. But also attention was given to the use of R...

Technology for modifying the genotypes and phenotypes of insects and other arthropods has steadily progressed with the development of more precise and powerful methods, most prominently transgenic modification. For many insect pests, there is now almost unlimited ability to modify phenotypes to benefit human health and agriculture. Precise DNA modifications and gene drive have the power to make wild-type populations less harmful in ways that could never have been performed with previous tr...

This book focuses on entomovectoring, also known as apivectoring, the method used for managing pollinators to increase crop yields and employ strategies of biocontrol in greenhouses and open fields. It is written by experts working in academia and industry from the different continents of the world. Over the past 25 years Research and Development has successfully investigated the potential of pollinators to perform two tasks: dispersal of biological control agents (BCOs) and their pollinat...

Pesticide resistance remains a growing problem in the agricultural sector worldwide, with reports suggesting that more than 600 species of pests have developed some level of resistance to the key groups of pesticides, including fungicides, insecticides and herbicides. A greater research effort is required to understand patterns of resistance and how they can be addressed to maintain crop protection.Global trends in pesticide resistance provides a comprehensive overview of ...

The bioprotectants market was estimated to be worth $5.5 billion in 2022, with this figure set to rise to over $11 billion by 2027. With more than 1000 products on the market, a greater understanding of how individual species/strains function as bioprotection agents is required.Advances in bioprotection of plants against diseases considers recent advances in techniques used to identify and develop fungal and bacterial bioprotection agents, including Cl...

Reviews recent advances in understanding pollination dynamics and the role of plant-pollinator relationships in agro-ecosystemsProvides a comprehensive assessment of the major threats to economically important pollinators, including the impact of climate change and pest and disease threatExplores best practices for the protection of key pollinators and the ecosystem services they deliver

Crop Protection, Volume 55, the latest release in the Advances in Insect Physiology series, highlights new advances in the field, with this new volume presenting interesting chapters on RNAi Plus, where microbes enhance RNAi: Mechanism and Applications, Symbionts in whiteflies, miRNAs from the microbiome as drivers in the insect, a critical view on insect microbiome data analysis and interpretation, Insect-microbe interactions and transmission as shaped by future climate changes, Intestina...

The book consists of multiple chapters by leading experts on the different aspects in the unique relationship between arthropods and plants, the underlying mechanisms, realized successes and failures of interactions and application for IPM, and future lines of research and perspectives. Interesting is the availability of the current genomes of different insects, mites and nematodes and different important plants and agricultural crops to bring better insights in the cross talk mechanisms a...

Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) has been used as a biopesticide in agriculture, forestry and mosquito control because of its advantages of specific toxicity against target insects, lack of polluting residues and safety to non-target organisms. The insecticidal properties of this bacterium are due to insecticidal proteins produced during sporulation. Despite these ecological benefits, the use of Bt biopesticides has lagged behind the synthetic chemicals. Genetic improvement of Bt natural strain...

The basic concept of this book is to examine the use of innovative methods augmenting traditional plant breeding towards the development of new crop varieties under different environmental conditions to achieve sustainable food production. This book consists of two volumes: Volume 1 subtitled Breeding, Biotechnology and Molecular Tools and Volume 2 subtitled Agronomic, Abiotic and Biotic Stress Traits. This is Volume 1 which consists of 21 chapters covering domestication and germplasm util...

This book is open access under a CC BY 4.0 license.By 2050, human population is expected to reach 9.7 billion. The demand for increased food production needs to be met from ever reducing resources of land, water and other environmental constraints. Rice remains the staple food source for a majority of the global populations, but especially in Asia where ninety percent of rice is grown and consumed. Climate change continues to impose abiotic and biotic stresses that curtail rice qua...

Sugarcane is the most important plant source for sugar and alcohol production and is cultivated in more than 80 countries in tropical and subtropical areas. However, environmental factors negatively influence its yield and jeopardize the prospect to meet the increasing demand for sugar, other sugarcane derived by products and bioethanol. The development of stress tolerant plants is fundamental for the maintenance and increase of crop yields. Biotechnology to Enhance Sugarcane Productivity ...