Integrated management of vectored viral diseases of plants

TLDR: This chapter comprehensively covers arthropods (mainly insects and mites), nematodes, fungi, and plasmodiophorids in the context of being prime agents for spreading plant viruses in order to understand interactions among insect vectors, viruses, and host plants.

Abstract: This chapter comprehensively covers arthropods (mainly insects and mites), nematodes, fungi, and plasmodiophorids in the context of being prime agents for spreading plant viruses. Insects are the largest class of plant-virus–transmitting vectors wherein acquisition and transmission of pathogens by an insect vector is essential to start the infection cycle of disease. Some viruses can infect plants when insects tap into the phloem to feed; other viruses infect plant cells through a wound site created by a leaf-feeding insects The epidemiology of plant diseases caused by insect-carried plant viruses involves four main components—pathogen, insect, plant, and environment. Thus, interactions among insect vectors, viruses, and host plants mediate transmission by integrating all organizational levels, from molecules to populations. The latest research in the field of managing plant viruses through vectors management have been deliberated with special reference to the use of crop protection, plant resistance, modification of farming practices, biotechnology, and typical integrated pest-management strategies.