Insect pests still constitute major constraints on productivity of crops, forestry and livestock in developing countries, either directly from feeding damage or indirectly through the vectoring of diseases.

 

Heliothis Larva © University of Greenwich

NRI provides skills and techniques in insect biology, physiology and behaviour to solve problems caused by insect pests of crops, forestry and livestock, particularly in the developing countries. The emphasis is on pre-harvest pests, but there is close collaboration with other NRI staff working on post-harvest pests. Research activities focus on understanding the pest in the context of the its biology and the production system, and on adapting possible solutions to specific field problems. Staff undertake strategic, applied and adaptive research in laboratory and field, field trials, consultancies, project appraisal, monitoring and evaluation studies and training in IPM techniques.

Key areas of expertise:

• insect physiology and behaviour
• insect-host plant interactions
• flight and migration
• diapause and population monitoring
• vector ecology
• insect resistance management
• molecular entomology

Staff

Dr Derek Russell
Dr Tim Chancellor
Prof. John Colvin
Dr Gay Gibson
Dr James Legg

 

Projects

Cassava varieties resistant and susceptible to cassava mosaic   © University of Greenwich

Strategies for sustainable deployment of cassava mosaic disease resistant cassava in E Africa - Tanzania
Funded by: DFID Crop Protection Programme (1999-2002)
Project leader: Dick Cooter (R.J.Cooter@gre.ac.uk)
Collaborators: National Agricultural Research Organisation (NARO), Uganda

 

Project Profile: Cassava is an important subsistence, food security and income-generating crop for poor people in Eastern Africa. The devastating form of cassava mosaic disease spreading in the region is being tackled through the deployment of resistant varieties. However, farmers continue to grow susceptible local varieties with the improved material but the implications for long-term disease management are not clear. The project will study the interaction between the viruses, the whitefly vector, cassava variety, and the phenomena of disease reversion and recovery that currently confound farmers' selection of clean cutting material. Farmer participatory research will produce recommendations on how best to deploy resistant material to ensure a sustained supply of cassava in the future.

 

Pest dynamics in rice systems - Bangladesh
Funded by: DFID Crop Protection Programme (1998-2002)
Project leader: Tim Chancellor (T.C.B.Chancellor@gre.ac.uk)
Collaborators: CABInternational; PROSHIKA; International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) Philippines; BRRI

 

Rice farming is crucial to the economy of Bangladesh and increased grain yields are needed to support a rapidly growing population and to improve farmer incomes. With optimum crop management practices, yields from low input rice cropping systems can be increased. Low input systems are especially appropriate for the many poor farmers in Bangladesh and have clear benefits for sustainable production. This project researches the community structure and function of rice arthropods in floodplain rice systems and identifies key taxa which can be used by farmers as an indicator of ecosystem health. This will enable them to simplify their pest management decisions, to reduce their dependence on unnecessary insecticides and to ensure stable incomes with acceptable levels of production. Baseline data are being collected by NRI and Proshika socio-economists on current crop management practices and on how these are influenced by factors such as credit and availability of both labour and organic material. Data is also being collected on how farmers view crop damage caused by insect pests, the extent to which they understand natural enemy regulation of plant-feeding arthropods and what steps they take to control crop pests. Four seasons of field trials will be conducted to compare arthropod abundance and diversity in organic and 'conventional' fields. Recommendations for improved pest management practices will be evaluated with farmers during the final year of the project. Appropriate dissemination mechanisms will be examined with a view to developing a further phase of the work. An arthropod reference collection and a complementary relational database are being developed for use by research institutes and implementation agencies.

 

Groundnut rosette disease management - Uganda
Funded by: DFID Crop Protection Programme (1999- 2002)
Project leader: Bill Page (W.W.Page@gre.ac.uk) Collaborators:
ICRISAT; Serere Agricultural and Animal Research Institute, Uganda; ARC-Grain Crops Institute

 

The Teso farming system is a semi-arid production system centered in four districts of northern Uganda. DFID financed a needs assessment exercise in this system and rosette disease and aphids were identified as the most important crop protection problem on groundnuts both by farmers and SAARI (Serere Agricultural and Animal Production Research Institute). This collaborative project between NRI, SAARI and ICRISAT will allow farmers to select and evaluate appropriate rosette and vector resistant planting materials developed by ICRISAT. Strategic work will focus on extending the durability of rosette resistance through the identification of new resistant sources and development of screening methodologies.

 

Sustainable management & molecular characterisation of tomato leaf curl virus and its whitefly vector
Funded by: DFID Crop Protection Programme Dates:1999-2002
Project leader: John Colvin (J.Colvin@gre.ac.uk)
Collaborators: University of Agricultural Sciences Bangalore (USAB), India

 

In India, tomato leaf curl virus (ToLCV) transmitted by the whitefly Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius), currently cause serious yield losses. In other parts of the world, over-relience on conventional insecticides to control vegetable and cotton pests has resulted in the recent evolution of several, new, highly resistant B. tabaci, biotypes which cause hundreds of millions of pounds worth of damage annually. The development of alternative management practices, therefore, is vitally important both to prevent the evolution of additional aggressive biotypes and to cope with those already in existence. The aim of this phase of the work is to test strategies, such as ToLCV host-plant resistance, that have the highest probability of delivering a significant developmental impact in the short to medium term.

 

Biology and Control of Armoured Bush Crickets in Southern Africa - Southern Africa
Funder: DFID Crop Protection Programme (1999-2002)
Project leader: Stuart Green (S.V.Green@gre.ac.uk)
Collaborators: ICRISAT; ARC Plant Protection Research Institute, S. Africa; Grain Crops Institute, Potchefstroom, South Africa; University of Pretoria; IACR- Rothamsted ; , Dept of Agric. Research Botswana Ministry of Agriculture

 

Armoured bush crickets are destructive but sporadic pests of smallholder cereal crops in semi-arid areas of southern Africa. This project is conducting investigations on the population dynamics and behaviour of Acanthoplus discoidalis, the main pest species of ABC in Botswana, in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture's Dept of Agricultural Research, the agricultural extension service, and farmers. Research activities will facilitate the development of an outbreak forecasting system, and effective, environmentally benign, armoured bush cricket control measures appropriate for resource-poor farmers.

 

Control of Cotton Bollworm in Small-Scale Cotton Production Systems - China, India, Pakistan
Funded by: Common Fund for Commodities supported by DFID and the Insecticide Resistance Action Committee plus the Asian partner national governments (2000-2004)
Project leader: Derek Russell (D.A.Russell@gre.ac.uk)
Collaborators: Central Institute for Cotton Research, India Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, India, Punjab Agricultural University, India; Nanjing Agricultural University, China; Central Cotton Research Institute, Pakistan; IACR, Rothamsted Agricultural Experimental Station, UK.

 

The project aims to develop and promulgate sustainable control strategies for the cotton bollworm Helicoverpa armigera in Asia and Africa. This to be done by: a) activities that aim at filling the knowledge gaps in relation to long-term sustainable use of pesticides and their mixtures; b) activities that address the problem of insecticide resistance management; c) activities which present and demonstrate the conclusions in a form directly, easily and reliably applicable by smallholder cotton farmers with a minimum of training. The individual components are led from the collaborating research centres.

Publications

Whitefly, vector of virus diseases © University of Greenwich

Iyengar, L. and Russell, D.A. Implications for non-target organisms of implementing an insecticide resistance management strategy for the control of cotton pests in India. Ecotoxicology (in press)

Singh, D., Denholm, I., Russell, D.A., Singh, G., Sohi, B.S., Sarao, P.S. and Sharma, N. Monitoring of insecticide resistance and esterase variations in cotton whitefly Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius) from the Indian Punjab (in press).

Jadhav, D.R., Russell, D.A. and Armes, N.J. Impact of sorghum on natural parasitism of Helicoverpa armigera (Hubner) by Trichogramma chilonis Ishii in cotton in India. Biocontrol Science and Technology (in press).

Kranthi, K.R., Jadhav, D.R., Kranthi, S., Wanjari, R.R., Ali, S.S. and Russell, D.A. Insecticide resistance in five major insect pests of cotton in India. Crop Protection (in press).

Kranthi, K.R., Russell, D.A., Wanjari, R., Manoj, K., Munje, S. Lavhe, N. and Armes, N. In-season changes in resistance of insecticides in Helicovera armigera (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae). Journal of Economic Entomology (in press).

Kranthi, K.R., Jadhav, D.R., Wanjari, R.R., Shakir Ali, S. and Russell, D. (2001). Carbamate and organophosphate resistance in cotton pests in India, 1995 to 1999. Bulletin of Entomological Research 91: 37-46.

Kranthi, R.K., Jadhav, D., Wanjari, R., Kranthi, S. and Russell, D.A. (2001) Pyrethroid resistance and mechanisms in field strains of Helicovera armigera (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae). Journal of Economic Entomology 94: 253-263.

Maruthi, M.N., Colvin, J. & Seal, S. (2001). Mating compatability, life-history traits, and RAPD-PCR variation in Bemisia tabaci associated with the cassava mosaic disease pandemic in East Africa. Entomologia experimentalis et applicata 99: 13-23.

Russell, D.A., Kranthi, K.R., Surulivelu, T., Jadhav, D.R., Regupathy, A. AND Singh, J. (2000). Developing and implementing insecticide resistance management practices in cotton ICM programmes in India. BCPC 2000 Conference Proceedings - Pests and Diseases, 205-212.

Cooter, R.J. Winder, D. & Chancellor, T.C.B. (2000) Tethered flight activity of Nephotettix virescens (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae) in the Philippines. Bulletin of Entomological Research 89: 000-000 (in press).

Zhang, X.-S., Holt, J., Colvin, J. (2000). A general model of plant-virus disease infection to incorporate vector aggregation. Plant Pathology 49: 435-444.

Maruthi, M.N., Colvin, J. & Seal, S.E. (2000) Mating compatibility, life-history traits and RAPD-PCR variation in Bemisia tabaci (Genn.) associated with the cassava mosaic disease pandemic in East Africa. Ann. Exp. Appl., submitted.

Cooter, R.J., Winder, D. & Chancellor, T.C.B. (2000) Tethered flight activity of Nephotettix virescens (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae) in the Philippines. Bulletin of Entomological Research 90: 49-55.

Smith, M.C, Page, W.W., Holt J. And Kyetere, D. (2000). Spatial dynamics of maize streak virus disease epidemic development within fields. International Journal of Pest Management 46: 55-66.

Holt, J. & Chancellor, T.C.B (1999) Modelling the spatio-temporal deployment of resistant varieties to reduce the incidence of rice tungro disease in a dynamic cropping system. Plant Pathology 48: 453-461.

Holt, J., Colvin, J. & Muniyappa, V. (1999) Identifying control strategies for tomato leaf curl virus disease using an epidemiological model. Journal of Applied Ecology 36: 1-10.

Zhang, X.-S., Holt, J. & Colvin, J. (1999) Mathematical models of the dynamics of host-plant infection by helper-dependent virus complexes: why are helper viruses always avirulent? Phytopathology 90: 85-93.

Downham, M.C.A. & Cooter, R.J. (1999) Tethered flight and morphometric studies with Cicadulina sotreyi and C. mbila leafhoppers (Homoptera: Cicadellidae) vectors of maize streak virus in Uganda. Bulletin of Entomological Research 88: 117-125.

Thresh, J.M., Bua, A., Baguma, Y., Ogwal, S., Ssemakula, G.N., Acola, G., Byabakuma, B., Cooter, R.J. & Martin, A. (1999) (in press).

Page, W. W., Smith M.C., Holt, J. AND KyeterE, D. 1999. Intercrops, Cicadulina spp., and maize streak virus disease. Annals of Applied Biology 135: 385-393.

Kyetere, D. And Page,W. W. (1999). Vector behaviour in relation to maize streak virus epidemiology. The Sixth Eastern and Southern Africa Regional Maize Conference. Maize Production Technology for the Future: Challenges and Opportunities. Addis Ababa, 21-25 September, 1998.

Tiongco E.R., Chancellor, T., Villareal, S., Magbanua, M., Teng, P.S. (1998), 'Roguing as a tactical control for rice tungro virus disease', Journal of Plant Protection in the Tropics 11: 45-52.

Angeles, E.R., Cabunagan, R.C., Tiongco, E.R., Azzam, O., Teng, P.S., Khush, G.S., Chancellor, T., (1998), 'Advanced breeding lines with resistance to rice tungro viruses', International Rice Research Notes 23 (1): 17-18.

Cabunagan, R.C., Angeles, E.R., Tiongco, E.R., Villareal, S., Azzam, O., Teng, P.S., Khush, G.S. Chancellor, T., (1998), 'Multilocational evaluation of promising advanced breeding lines for resistance to rice tungro viruses', International Rice Research Notes 23 (1): 15-17

Colvin, J., Fishpool, L.D.C., Fargette, D., Sherington, J. & Fauquet, C. (1998) Bemisia tabaci trap catches in a cassava field in Cote d'Ivoire in relation to environmental factors and the distribution of African cassava mosaic disease. Bulletin of Entomological Research 88: 369 - 378.

Ramappa, H.K., Muniyappa, V. & Colvin, J. (1998) The contribution of tomato and alternative host plants to tomato leaf curl virus inoculum pressure in different areas of south India. Annals of Applied Biology 133: 187 - 198.

Green, S.V. (1998), Revision of the African grasshopper genus Parepistaurus Karsch 1896 (Orthoptera: Acrididae: Coptacridinae). Tropical Zoology 11: 259-332.

Green, S.V. (1998), 'The taxonomic impediment in orthopteran research and conservation'. Journal of Insect Conservation, 2: 151-159.

Green, S.V. (1998), 'The bushman as an entomologist', Antenna 22: 4-8.

Chancellor, T.C.B, Cook, A.G. , Heong, K.L. & Villareal S. (1997) The flight activity and infectivity of the major leafhopper vectors (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae) of rice tungro viruses in an irrigated rice area in the Philippines. Bulletin of Entomological Research 87: 247-258.

Holt, J. & Chancellor, T.C.B (1997) A model of plant virus disease epidemics in asynchronously-planted cropping systems. Plant Pathology 46: 490-501.

Chancellor, T.C.B., Heong, K.L. & Cook, A.G. (1997) The role of vector control in the management of rice tungro disease. In: Epidemiology and Management of Rice Tungro Disease (T.C.B. Chancellor and J.M. Thresh eds). Chatham, UK: Natural Resources Institute.

Burt, P.J.A., Colvin, J & Smith, S .M. (1997) Forecasting the early eclosion of Oedaleus senegalensis in the Sahel: the role of remotely sensed rainfall data. In New Strategies in Locust Control, pp. 55-61, Bamako, 3-8 April 1995.

Colvin, J (1997) Biotic and abiotic factors affecting the population dynamics of the Senegalese grasshopper, Oedaleus senegalensis. In New Strategies in Locust control, pp. 63-67, Bamako, 3-8 April 1995.

Reynolds, D.R., Riley, J.R.,Armes, N.J.,Cooter, R.J,Tucker,M.R.& Colvin, J. (1997) Techniques for quantifying insect migration. In Methods in Ecological & Agricultural Entomology (eds. D.R. Dent & M.P. Walton) pp.111.-145. CAB International, Wallingford, UK.

Holt, J., & Colvin, J. (1997) A differential equation model of the interaction between the migration of the Senegalese grasshopper, Oedaleus senegalensis, its predators and a seasonal habitat. Ecological Modelling, 101, 185 - 193.

Riley, J.R., Downham, M.C.A. & Cooter, R.J. (1997) Comparison of the performance of Cicadulina leafhoppers on flight mills with that to be expected in free flight. Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata 83, 317-322.

Reynolds, D.R., Riley, J.R., Armes, N.J., Cooter, R.J., Tucker, M.R. & COLVIN, J. (1997) Techniques for quantifying insect migration. In Methods in Ecological & Agricultural Entomology (eds. D.R. Dent & M.P. Walton) pp. 111 - 145. CAB International, Wallingford, UK.

Gibson R.W., Page W.W. 1997. The determination of when maize plants were infected with maize streak virus from the position of the lowest diseased leaf. African Crop Science Journal 5: 189-195.

Rose, J.W., Dewhurst, C.F., and Page, W.W. (1997). The African armyworm handbook. Desert Locust Control Organization for Eastern Africa, PO Box 4255, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. 165pp.

Chancellor, T.C.B, Cook, A.G. & Heong, K.L. (1996) The within-field dynamics of rice tungro disease in relation to the abundance of its major leafhopper vectors. Crop Protection 15: 439-449.

Holt, J. and Chancellor, T.C.B. (1996) Simulation modelling of the spread of rice tungro virus disease: the potential for management by roguing. Journal of Applied Ecology 33: 927-936.

Holt, J., Chancellor, T.C.B., Reynolds, D.R. and Tiongco, E.R. (1996) Risk assessment for rice planthopper and tungro disease outbreaks. Crop Protection 15: 359-368.

Colvin, J. (1996) Diapause duration, survival in relation to desiccation and egg-pod morphology of the Senegalese grasshopper, Oedaleus senegalensis. Physiological Entomology 21: 173 - 178.

Colvin, J and Holt, J (1996) Modele d'etude des effets de la pluviometie, de la predation et de la quiescence des oeufs sur la dynamique des populations du Criquet senegalais, Oedaleus senegalensis. Secheresse 7: 145-150.

Fishpool, L.D.C., Fargette, D., Colvin, J., Thouvenel, J-C., Burban, C. and Fauquet, C. (1996) Sexual dimorphism of fourth-instar whitefly nymphs on cassava in the Cote d'Ivoire. Tropical Science 36: 154 - 158.

Li Xianchun, Han Zhaojun, Wang Yingchang, Li Guoqing, Desousa K., Cooter R.J. and Patel S. (1996) Studies on neonate foliar residue bioassay for monitoring insecticide resistance in Helicoverpa armigera. Journal of Nanjing Agricultural University 19: 48-53.