Advances in Plant Protection Research (Volume 1)

• Editor(s)

• Yadav A. L.
• Assistant Professor, Department of Plant Pathology, College of Agriculture, SKRAU, Bikaner, India.
• Ashokkumar Natarajan
• Assistant Professor (Nematology), SRM College of Agricultural Sciences, Baburayanpettai, Tamil Nadu, India.
• Muthukumar M
• Assistant Professor (Genetics and Plant Breeding), SRM College of Agricultural Sciences, SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Vendhar Nagar, Baburayanpettai, Elapakkam (Post), Chengalpattu (Dt.), Tamil Nadu, India.

• Preface

Plant protection from pests, diseases and nematodes are key components of agricultural sustainability and food security. With world challenges like climate change, population pressure, and biodiversity crisis continuously being coupled with major weight on food production systems, there is ever growing need for innovative, sustainable and environmentally friendly approaches to protect crops. Solving these problems will need multiple tools for plant protection in both the conventional as well as the newest of tools and practices. Advancements in Plant Protection Research: Pests, diseases, and nematodes offers a comprehensive examination of new directions and innovations in the control of varied biological threats to plant health. New Research Approaches to the Management, Prevention and Control of Pests, Plant Diseases and Nematodes provides a compilation of topical information on current research towards the management of pests plant disease and nematodes. The article points out that pest-plant interactions, disease transmission processes and the role of nematodes as significant but rarely fully recognized biotic constraint on plants growth have undergone drastic changes over the past few decades. In the subsequent chapters, readers will learn about some of the recent progress made in areas of plant pest biology, epidemiology of disease and nematode host interaction. There are also outlines of innovative methods for pest control, including IPM, biological control agents and precision agriculture, providing viable options. Investing in the use of genetic and biotechnological innovations for pest, disease, and nematode management are also addressed by focusing on methods used to breed plant resistant varieties while developing molecular tools that can facilitate rapid diagnostics. It also highlights the amazing challenge nematodes pose, major pests in many systems that are frequently recognized but and frequently overlooked. Chapter on nematode management practices, including chemical as well as biological control measures, ensure a good insight into this important topic and helps to highlight novel ways to manage these pests in the ground. Since plant protection is becoming multidisciplinary, collaboration and interdisciplinary research appears to be a solution. This volume highlights the need to synthesize knowledge across disciplines—entomology, plant pathology, nematology and molecular biology—to create successful management strategies. Another feature is the importance of environmental sustainability and regulations that will influence the future of pest, disease, and nematodes control. Advances in Plant Protection Research is targeted toward researchers, practitioners, students and policy makers dealing with agriculture, plant science, or plant health. This book is your one-stop shop if you are travelling down different pathways, looking ahead to new technologies emerging on the horizon as well as practical solutions for existing pests or diseases or both, or studying the complex interplay of host-pathogen/nematode-vector systems. We hope that this volume will inspire new breakthroughs in plant protection research, by providing more comprehensive insights into the interactions among plants with pests, diseases and nematodes to unveil sustainable ways of protecting our crops and securing food systems.

• Chapters