About Book

Crop protection is the science and practice of managing plant disease, weeds and other pests that damage agricultural crops and forestry. Agricultural crops include field crops (maize, wheat, rice, etc.), vegetable crops (potatoes, cabbages, etc.) and fruits. Agriculture faces tremendous challenges as the world population will grow to 8.3 billion in 2030. Usable agriculture areas will, however, hardly expand. In addition to food, animal feeding stuffs, renewable resource and energy crops have to be planted on these areas. Plant protection products guarantee that these scarce resources are used optimally. They are therefore indispensable for ecological, economic and social sustainability in agriculture. To protect agriculture crops in an eco-friendly way against pests and diseases as well as to safeguard the quality and availability of the foodstuffs, optimized chemical plant protection is required. It is the practice of using various techniques and methods to increase crop yield, better crop quality, improve growth and development of crops. Different crops require different managing techniques, determined by their biological characteristics and climatic requirements. This book includes detailed information about the principles and practices that can be used for crop protection. It focuses on agroecological crop protection, cereal crops, DNA sequencing, solar radiation interception, ecological role, RNAI and innate immunity. It provides the readers with extensive material to understand the concepts and applications of crop management. It aims to serve as a resource guide for graduates and post-graduates alike and contribute to the growth of the discipline.

Preface............................................................................................................v

Chapter 1 Nontransformative Strategies for RNAi in Crop Protection ..........1

Abstract...................................................................................................1

1. Crop protection and RNAi.................................................................1

2. RNAi mechanism in brief...................................................................3

3. Transformative versus nontransformati-ve RNAi..........................3

4. Successes of RNAi through nontrans-formative approaches.......6

5. Postharvest protection using nontrans-formative RNAi.............12

6. Other applications...............................................................................12

7. Conclusions..........................................................................................13

Acknowledgements.............................................................................14

Chapter 2 The Ecological Role of Biodiversity for Crop Protection ..............22

Abstract ................................................................................................22

1. Introduction..........................................................................................23

2. Biodiversity in agroecosystems........................................................24

3. Biodiversity and pest management.................................................25

4. Biodiversity, soil fertility and plant health....................................26

5. Target-oriented nanotechnological appr-oaches and preservation

of biodiversity......................................................................................29

6. Outlook and future aspects...............................................................31

7. Conclusion............................................................................................33

Conflict of interest..............................................................................34

Chapter 3 Soybean Architecture Plants: From Solar Radiation Interception to

Crop Protection..........................................................................................39

Abstract ................................................................................................39

1. Introduction..........................................................................................40

2. Characterization and definition of soy-bean plant

architecture...........................................................................................40

3. Solar radiation interception, carbon fixat-ion and grain yield..45

4. Spray deposition under variations of plant architecture............49

5. Crop managements and their impacts on architecture

modification..........................................................................................51

6. Final considerations............................................................................54

Acknowledgements.............................................................................54

Chapter 4 Management of Insect Pest by RNAi — A New Tool for Crop

Protection....................................................................................................63

Abstract.................................................................................................63

1. Introduction..........................................................................................64

2. RNAi mechanism................................................................................65

3. Factors affecting the silencing effect and RNAi efficiency as an

insect control met-hod.......................................................................71

4. Overview on the use of RNAi to control insects by transgenic

plants.....................................................................................................74

5. Conclusion and future perspectives................................................79

Chapter 5 DNA Sequencing and Crop Protection...............................................87

1. Introduction..........................................................................................87

2. Molecular tools for detection and identi-fication of plant

pathogens and pests .........................................................................88

3. Application of DNA barcoding in crop pro-tection ...................91

4. Molecular crop protection using recombi-nant DNA

techniques.............................................................................................94

5. Crop protection using RNA interference.......................................98

6. Conclusion .........................................................................................105

Chapter 6 Interaction Between Nitrogen and Chemical Plant Protection in

Yield Formation of Cereal Crops......................................................120

1. Introduction........................................................................................120

2. Material and methods......................................................................121

3. Results.................................................................................................126

4. Discussion...........................................................................................134

5. Conclusion..........................................................................................142

6. Acknowledgment..............................................................................142

Chapter 7 Exploiting Plant Innate Immunity to Protect Crops Against Biotic Stress: Chitosaccharides as Natural and Suitable Candidates for this Purpose..............................................................................................148

1. Introduction........................................................................................148

2. General remarks on chitosaccharides structure and

availability..........................................................................................148

3. Chitosaccharides as inducers of plant defence responses........150

4. Antimicrobial activity of chitosaccharides...................................164

5. Chitosaccharides in crop protection..............................................168

6. Conclusion..........................................................................................172

7. Acknowledgment..............................................................................172

Chapter 8 Agroecological Crop Protection: Concepts and a Case Study

from Reunion...........................................................................................184

1. Introduction........................................................................................184

2. Agroecological crop protection: Basis and principles................185

3. Application of agroecological crop pro-tection to the case of

cucurbit fruit flies on Reunion.......................................................188

4. Research on bioecology of the flies...............................................189

5. Research on agroecological techniques for fruit fly

management.......................................................................................190

6. Evaluation of agroecological crop pro-tection under commercial

farm conditions..................................................................................195

7. Conclusion..........................................................................................198

8. Acknowledgments.............................................................................198

Citation......................................................................................................203

Index...........................................................................................................205

About Author

Waylon Angstrom is an Agricultural and Biosystems Engineer at Technical Institute, Coventry. He obtained his Ph.D. in Plant Physiology from State University, Marawi. He has been working on agricultural project and development focused on food security in a government agency. He has written several technical papers on the usefulness of crop management, horticulture, plant science, biochemistry and biotechnology. He is also an active member and a regular contributor to several agricultural clubs and societies.