Course Description

Plant resistance to insects is one of the easiest and cheapest components of an integrated pest management program. It is a very environmentally friendly method of insect management and is compatible with other control strategies such as biological, cultural and chemical control. Two major sources of genes for resistance are now being used with great efficiency; native genes (already occurring within a plant species or related plant species) and transgenes (genes genetically engineered or moved from other species, such as from the bacteria, Bacillus thuringiensis). In this course, you will understand the theory, principles and be given a concise description of development of the role of plant resistance in an integrated management program, environmental impacts, inheritance of resistance and strategies for selecting insect resistance.

Course Objectives

This course will provide the student with a working knowledge of how plants defend themselves naturally, how insects, through co-evolution, have adapted to overcome these mechanisms of resistance. The student will learn how to screen and breed for insect resistance, the relationship to plant resistance to insects in an integrated pest management system, the major sources of genes for resistance: native genes and transgenes. A comparison will be made throughout the course with the development of insect resistance with plant pathogen resistance and herbicide tolerance. Finally, the current biotechnology uses and successes in insect resistance will be discussed.

Instructor

Dr. John Foster
312F Plant Industry, East Campus
402-472-8686
jfoster1@unl.edu