Constitutive and Induced Resistance in Crop Plants of Economic Importance

Host Plant Resistance (HPR) represents a fundamental control tactic in the integrated management of economically important pests of crop plants. HPR has the main advantages of keeping pest populations below the economic injury levels and being compatible with the other pest control methods. The use of conventional resistant varieties has provided great benefits to farmers in terms of reducing crop damage and yield losses caused by arthropod pests. Planting Bt transgenic varieties is another commonly deployed strategy in IPM of important commodity crops, especially maize, cotton, and soybeans, for the control of major lepidopteran and coleopteran pests. On the other hand, the application of elicitors of plant resistance has gained increased momentum in IPM, such as the application of chemical, microbial, and botanical compounds with the aim of elevating the basal defense levels of crop plants to withstand pest attack and mitigate the stress caused by herbivory.This Research Topic has the goals of compiling and publicizing recent and updated information on the use of constitutive and induced HPR within the context of IPM in diverse crops of economic importance in the world. The use of resistant varieties developed by conventional, transgenic, and genomic-based techniques has great benefits to IPM programs and farmers by reducing the crop yield losses caused by pest herbivory. However, there is still little information in the literature regarding the levels of resistance in commercial varieties of diverse crops and in varieties under development in many countries. This information can further aid in the planting of resistant varieties in production regions where pest attack is prevalent. In addition, the current application of resistance elicitors in the field is not yet a common practice, and the results of recent studies on this theme can foster its increased deployment in IPM. Finally, gathering knowledge about resistance-related chemical and morphological plant traits, as well as underlying genetic and molecular mechanisms of resistance, can support the development of commercial varieties using high-throughput phenotyping and marker-assisted selection in genetic breeding programs.This Research Topic welcomes the submission of manuscripts within the diverse scopes of HPR in the context of IPM in crop plants of economic importance. Research and review papers can be submitted for evaluation and publication. The main HPR themes this Research Topic is expected to cover are: constitutive resistance levels in crop varieties; induced resistance by pest herbivory; induced resistance by application of defense elicitors (e.g. plant activators and biostimulants) of chemical, microbial, and botanical origins; levels of resistance in transgenic Bt varieties; resistant varieties developed through genomic technologies (e.g. CRISPR-Cas9 and RNAi); chemical and morphological resistance-related traits; genetic and molecular mechanisms of resistance; indirect resistance and natural enemies; combined use of HPR and control tactics in IPM. Topic editors: Bruno Henrique Sardinha de Souza, Michael J Stout, Aline S. Guidolin, Lina Bernaola, Eduardo N. Costa Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/78231/constitutive-and-induced-resistance-in-crop-plants-of-economic-importance