Abstract
Vegetable production plays a vital role in food security by providing nutritional supplements. Insect-transmitted plant viruses are a major constraint to production of many important vegetable crops. Most plant viruses depend on vectors for their survival and spread. The vectors of plant viruses are largely sucking insects such as aphids, whiteflies, leaf hoppers, plant hoppers, scale insects, mealybugs, thrips and mites. Insect vectors, in particular, aphids, leafhoppers and whiteflies inject virus into plant cells or vascular tissues. Their overlapping host ranges, emergence of pesticide resistant strains, circulative and propagative relationship with polyphagous vectors, and difficulties in predicting their outbreaks pose challenges to development and implementation of effective management programmes. Accurate identification of viruses causing the diseases is the primary step for implementation of appropriate management strategies. The management system requires integration of multiple methods since no single technique is likely to be successful to manage diseases. This review provides a summary of the current status of insect-transmitted virus epidemics in vegetable crops, and an overview of the approaches for management of insect vectors and insect-transmitted virus diseases in diverse vegetable production systems.
