Contents - Faperta

Preface
Recombinant DNA technology has signifi cantly enhanced our ability for crop improvement
and crop protection to meet the increasing demand for food, feed, and fodder.
Considerable progress has been made over the past two decades in manipulating
genes from diverse sources and inserting them into crop plants to confer resistance to
insect pests and diseases, tolerance to herbicides, drought, improved nutritional quality,
increased effectiveness of bio-control agents, and a better understanding of the nature of
gene action and metabolic pathways. Genes that confer resistance to insect pests have been
inserted into several crops. Transgenic crops with insect resistance are now being grown
in several countries worldwide. There has been a rapid increase in the area planted with
transgenic crops from 1.7 million ha in 1996 to in excess of 100 million ha in 2007. Deployment
of insect-resistant transgenic plants for pest control has resulted in a signifi cant reduction
in insecticide use, reduced exposure of farmers to insecticides, reduction of the harmful
effects of insecticides on non-target organisms, and a reduction in the amount of insecticide
residues in food and food products. Adoption of transgenic crops for pest management
also offers the additional advantage of controlling insect pests that have become resistant
to commonly used insecticides.
However, the products of biotechnology need to be commercially viable, environmentally
benign, easy to use in diverse agro-ecosystems, and have a wide-spectrum of activity
against the target insect pests, but harmless to non-target organisms. There is a need to
pursue a pest management strategy that takes into account the insect biology, insect plant
interactions, and their infl uence on the non-target organisms in the eco-system. There is a
need to combine exotic genes with conventional host plant resistance, and with traits that
confer resistance to other insect pests and diseases of importance in the target regions.
It is important to devise and follow bio-safety regulations, and to make the products of
biotechnology available to farmers who cannot afford the high cost of seeds and chemical
pesticides. Use of molecular techniques for diagnosis of insect pests and their natural enemies,
and for gaining an understanding of their interactions with their host plants will
provide a sound foundation for the development of insect-resistant cultivars in future.
Genetic engineering can also be used to produce robust natural enemies, and more stable
and virulent strains of entomopathogenic bacteria, fungi, viruses, and nematodes for use
in integrated pest management. Molecular markers can also be used for the identifi cation