Introduction

Growing world population and changing climate pose a significant threat to food security. A number of biotic and abiotic constraints further aggravate this challenge by reducing the crop productivity. Out of the various biotic stresses faced by plants, insects are the major constraints which are largely managed by synthetic chemical pesticides. This approach comes along with several associated risks like environmental degradation, pesticide residues in food chains, non-target effects, health hazards to the persons applying pesticides, and many more. To address these concerns, there is a growing need to shift towards more sustainable management practices which are safer to the environment as well as human health. Host plant resistance has the potential to provide sustainable solution to pest problems which offers economical, effective, easy, and environment friendly option to manage pests. Plants utilize a plethora of biophysical and biochemical defenses that can be harnessed to develop insect resistant cultivars. Conventional breeding techniques take longer time to develop resistant cultivars but they can be easily integrated with modern breeding techniques to develop resistant cultivars in a shorter period of time. Cultivars with even moderate level of resistance can be integrated into IPM system which can help reduce pesticide load.