This chapter details the significant global adoption of genetically engineered maize and surveys current traits and future trends. The first generation of commercial biotech maize products were single-gene, insect-resistant traits for Lepidopteran pests, primarily European corn borers, Ostrinia...

This chapter outlines established methods for the assessment of damage and losses caused by rodents to certain crops (rice, oil palms, coconuts, maize, sugarcane and cocoa) and stored products. The importance of damage assessment data in predicting the cost and benefits of implementing rodent...

Farmers planted genetically engineered crops that produce insecticidal proteins from the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) on a cumulative total of 570 million ha worldwide from 1996 to 2013. These Bt crops kill some key insect pests, yet they are not toxic to most other organisms, including...

Since first being commercialized in 1996, transgenic maize expressing Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) proteins has gained widespread acceptance in the world. In 2013, nearly 50 Mha of Bt maize were planted in 15 countries. In the same year, growers in the USA alone planted c.30 Mha of Bt maize, which...

For centuries, traditional agriculture in developing countries has used effective methods of insect pest control using botanicals. In order to make them a cheap and simple means of insect control for users, their efficacy and optimal use still need to be assessed. Currently, the measures to control ...

Genetically modified (GM) maize and cotton varieties that express insecticidal proteins derived from Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) have become an important component in integrated pest management programmes worldwide. A number of other crops producing Bt toxins, or more broad-spectrum insecticidal...

As management of the corn rootworm complex (Diabrotica spp.) became more challenging in the 1980s to mid-1990s, it was apparent that alternative control tactics were needed to effectively limit larval feeding damage to maize roots and to provide an economical alternative to the traditional soil...

This paper focuses on the economically important nematodes infesting cereal grains (wheat, barley, maize, sorghum, pearl millet and finger millet), including their distribution, biology and life cycle, damage potential, economic importance and the management options available for their control...

This chapter discusses topics on Western corn rootworm (WCR), Diabrotica virgifera virgifera, biology and history, resistance to crop rotation (in maize and soyabean fields), WCR movement, movement and the WCR life cycle, factors influencing movement, measuring movement, diet and movement, and diet ...

This chapter examines the current management strategies and their limitations in USA maize production and the potential benefits of managing these pests with a developed corn rootworm (Diabrotica spp.)-protected maize. The topics covered include development of a genetic solution for corn rootworm...