Plant Resistance to Insects in Oilseed Crops

Oilseed crops are energy rich crops that are grown under energy deprived conditions. The demand for premium seed oils is increasing as the world’s population grows. The attack of pests and diseases reduces the production potential of these crops. The cost of controlling insect pests by synthetic chemical insecticides in agriculture annually is billions of dollars worldwide. The overuse of insecticides has many associated ill effects. To maintain the ecological balance of the environment, it is imperative to develop alternative pest management systems that aim for minimal pesticide use and the conservation of natural enemies. Resistance in host plants is one such alternative strategy. Since one of the main bottlenecks in realization of full yield potential of oilseed crops is attack of insect pests, a traditional and effective alternative crop protection method serves as the fundamental tool of integrated pest management. Future development of insect-resistant oilseed crop cultivars will depend on the adoption of technologies and breeding techniques such as genomic selection, high-throughput phenomics, gene editing, and landscape genomics as well as the continuous use of sources of resistance from crop germplasm.