New Horizons in Insect Science Towards Sustainable Pest Management

147

Plant Virus Disease Spread

Through Insect Vectors and Their

Management

V. M. Chavan

A. K. Chakravarthy (ed.), New Horizons in Insect Science: Towards Sustainable Pest Management,
DOI 10.1007/978-81-322-2089-3_15, © Springer India 2015

V. M. Chavan ()
I.A.R.I. Regional Station, Survey No. 125A, Baner Phata,
I.T.I. Road, Aundh, Pune-411007, India
e-mail: [email protected]

Abstract

Arthropod-borne plant viruses are among the most important complex and

extensively distributed plant disease agents. The vectors of any plant virus

are always restricted to one of the major taxa, such as aphids, leafhoppers,

whiteflies, thrips, mealy bugs, beetles, mites, or nematodes. The first vec-

tors recognized as being associated with a plant virus disease were insects,

i.e., leaf hoppers ( Deltocephalis dorsalis Motschulsky) transmitting rice

stunt virus disease. Different terms or categories used for describing the

relationship between vectors and viruses give some indication of the be-

havior of the virus in the vector during transmission or mechanism of

virus transmission by vector. The most threatening property of the insect

vector is its wide host range. The knowledge of virus–vector relation-

ship is essential to devise suitable measures against vector-borne diseas-

es. Most approaches to control the vectors of virus diseases are aimed

at eradicating or altering one or more of the primary participants in the

transmission process (vector, virus, and host plant) or at preventing their

coming together. Broadly, the management of vectors of viral diseases

can be done by adopting methods of cultural control, biological control,

and chemical control, e.g., an integrated management strategy consisting

of appropriate transplanting time, use of barrier crops, and periodical ap-

plication of synthetic and botanical chemicals for management of aphid

vectors of papaya ring spot virus (PRSV) on papaya has been successfully

developed at I. A. R. I. Regional Station, Pune.

Keywords

Arthropod · Integrated management · Plant virus · Vector