This work collates the information on the advances made in the control of pests of tropical food legumes, namely the cowpea, soybean, groundnut, pigeon pea and other beans. Contributors are entomologists from the IITA, the International Center of Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) and researchers working in Africa, Latin America and Asia. An introduction from the USDA covers the general morphology, ecosystems, regions, distributions and uses of the crops. Chapters discuss field and storage pests, examining the taxonomy, identification, biology and bionomics, geographical distribution, status, damage symptoms and control measures for each pest covered. Also features a chapter on virus vestors and transmission of viruses and suggests strategies for future control and management of insect pests.

Providing a critical evaluation of the management strategies involved in ecologically-based pest management, this book presents a balanced overview of environmentally safe and ecologically sound approaches. Topics covered include biological control with fungi and viruses, conservation of natural predators, use of botanicals and how effective pest management can help promote food security. In the broader context of agriculture, sustainability and environmental protection, the book provides a multidisciplinary and multinational perspective on integrated pest management useful to researchers in entomology, crop protection, environmental sciences and pest management.

Cowpea: taxonomy, genetics, and breeding, physiology and agronomy, diseases and parasitic weeds, insect pests, postharvest technology and utilization. Biotechnological applications.

This book provides up-to-date and comprehensive coverage of the research and application of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) in tropical regions. The first section explores the agro-ecological framework that represents the foundations of IPM, in addition to emerging technologies in chemical and biological methods that are core to pest control in tropical crops. The second section follows a crop-based approach and provides details of current IPM applications in the main tropical food crops (such as cereals, legumes, root and tuber crops, sugarcane, vegetables, banana and plantain, citrus, oil palm, tea, cocoa and coffee) and also fibre crops (such as cotton) and tropical forests.