Abstract Insect-associated microorganisms profoundly influence host nutrition, development, reproduction, ecological adaptation, and responses to management interventions. However, the microbial partners associated with insects are not functionally or spatially uniform, and the terms endosymbionts , gut microbiota , and symbiotic microorganisms should not be treated as interchangeable. In this review, we distinguish obligate intracellular endosymbionts, facultative endosymbionts, and transient or environmentally acquired gut microbiota, and examine how these different microbial associates contribute to insect pest success and vulnerability. Across insect taxa, microbial partners are involved in nutrient provisioning, detoxification of plant allelochemicals and insecticides, immune modulation, reproductive manipulation, and host plant use. These functions have generated growing interest in symbiont-informed pest management strategies, including microbiome disruption, symbiont-targeted suppression, incompatible insect technique, paratransgenesis, and symbiont-mediated RNA interference. At the same time, translational enthusiasm must be balanced by recognition of ecological uncertainty, variable field performance, host–symbiont context dependence, regulatory complexity, and biosafety concerns, particularly for genetically modified symbiont-based systems. Drawing on published case studies, this review highlights both promising outcomes and contradictory findings, emphasizing that symbiont effects are not universally beneficial or predictable from the standpoint of pest control. We argue that future progress depends on greater conceptual clarity, stronger comparative synthesis across studies, and rigorous evaluation of deployment risks under realistic agroecosystem conditions. A more critical and ecologically grounded understanding of insect–microbe associations will be essential if symbiont-based interventions are to become credible components of sustainable insect pest management.

Escalating crop losses caused by insect pests, together with pesticide resistance, environmental persistence, and increasing regulatory scrutiny of conventional agrochemicals, have intensified interest in biologically based pest-management strategies. Endophytic bacteria and fungi represent a promising avenue for crop protection because they can influence plant defense, pest performance, and multitrophic interactions within plant tissues. This review critically synthesizes the ‘landscape’ of endophyte-mediated pest resistance—the ‘journey’ of microbes from colonization to field protection—through direct antagonism by insecticidal metabolites and enzymes, immune priming, signaling crosstalk (i.e., jasmonic acid, salicylic acid, and ethylene pathways), volatile organic compound-mediated indirect defense, and microbiome restructuring. We further evaluate the strength of evidence across laboratory, greenhouse, and field studies, distinguishing well-supported mechanisms from responses that remain context-dependent or insufficiently validated under agronomic conditions. This implies that endophyte-based pest resistance will remain difficult to translate unless colonization stability, host specificity, ecological trade-offs, formulation performance, biosafety, and regulatory requirements are addressed together. Future progress will require standardized efficacy testing, multiomics-based mechanism validation, improved delivery systems, predictive strain-selection pipelines, and transparent biosafety frameworks. By linking mechanism, evidence strength, and deployment barriers, this review provides a translational framework for moving endophyte-mediated pest resistance from experimental promise toward field-ready crop protection.

Rice yellow stem borer (YSB), Scirpophaga incertulas (Walker), is one of the most destructive insect pests of rice across diverse rice ecosystems. The pest damages the rice crop at both the seedling and maturity stages, resulting in severe yield losses. Host Plant Resistance (HPR) is the economical, sustainable, and eco-friendly component of integrated pest management (IPM). A comprehensive understanding of population genetics and the genetic diversity of YSB is essential for identifying tolerant donors and strengthening the resistance breeding programmes. In the present study, the genetic diversity of YSB populations collected from different locations of India was analysed using the mitochondrial Cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COX1) gene, and compared with global YSB populations. Phylogenetic analysis revealed the presence of two major clades among the global YSB populations. Nucleotide sequence analysis detected 60 mutations and 56 variable sites (polymorphic sites) in the COX1 sequences, with Indian populations exhibiting a comparatively higher number of variable sites. Haplotype analysis identified 38 haplotypes, among which three are major haplotypes (haplotype 24, 32, and 34). The overall haplotype diversity (Hd) and the nucleotide diversity (π) were 0.964 and 0.02182, respectively, while Indian populations exhibited Hd of 0.952 and π of 0.01235, indicating high haplotype diversity with moderate nucleotide divergence. Neutrality tests for Indian populations yielded significantly negative values of Tajima’s D (-2.21303), Fu and Li’s D (-4.40753), and Fu and Li’s F (-4.05701), suggesting an excess of low-frequency polymorphisms and/or localized mutational events. Overall, mitochondrial COX1 gene-based analysis revealed considerable genetic variation among YSB populations in India and across global regions. This study represents one of the first comprehensive reports summarising the genetic variation of YSB populations using the mitochondrial COX1 gene sequences, providing valuable insights for resistance breeding and long-term YSB pest management.

Brown planthopper [Nilaparvata lugens] is a serious pest of rice (Oryza sativa) in all the rice-growing regions of the World. In the present study, 28 red rice genotypes were selected from the initial screening of 215 genotypes and evaluated for resistance to N. lugens under glass-house conditions for two seasons. The promising genotypes were also studied for antixenosis and tolerance mechanisms of resistance. Among red rice genotypes, Mata Meher, Manipuri black, Hermonona, and Sonahanan reported high resistance to N. lugens through antixenosis and tolerance mechanisms. These resistant genotypes could serve as a valuable source for developing brown plant hopper resistant varieties.

A field investigation was carried out to study the effect of bee attractants on pollinator activity and the production of bottle gourd. The experiment was conducted at Horticulture Farm, Sriniketan during Kharif 2022 in a randomized block design with three replications. The treatment consists of eight indigenous bee attractants (jaggery solution @ 10%, sugar solution @ 10%, sugarcane juice solution @ 10%, honey solution @ 10%, cumin seed oil @ 0.5%, fennel seed oil @ 0.5%, dill seed oil @ 0.5% and rose water), and control. A total of 15 insect and non-insect species belonging to 10 families and 6 orders were found visiting the bottle gourd flowers during the experiment. Peak bees' activity was observed around 11 AM to 2 PM. Bee attractants increased the bee population irrespective of treatments and time intervals (on spray day and two consecutive days after spray). The effect of bee attractants was more pronounced on Apis cerena indica (Indian Bee) than on Melipona sp. (Stingless bee). In most cases Jaggery @ 10% spray attracts maximum honeybees regardless of different times and days after spray, followed by sugar solution (10%) and rose water. Jaggery @ 10% plots showed the early emergence of male (49.3) and female flowers (57.0) and also the days to male to female flowering (7.7). Application of jaggery @ 10% showed maximum number of fruits per plot (29.3), fruit length (8.1cm), fruit diameter (15.9cm) and fruit yield per plot (32.4kg). Maximum fruit yield ha-1 (216q) was registered in 10% jaggery-treated plots, followed by sugar solution (10%) treated plots (213.2q). Fragrant oils (cumin, fennel and dill seed oil), honey, rosewater and sugarcane juice-treated plots showed mixed responses for yield traits but mostly were superior to the control. Application of jaggery (10%) or sugar (10%) solution thrice (at 30%, 50% and 75% flowering stage) can be suggested to the bottle gourd growers of the Red and Laterite Zone of West Bengal for yield enhancement.

Rice crop is often attacked by several insect pests during its growth stages. Brown planthopper, BPH, is the most serious pest of rice which can cause epidemic losses. Though deployment of durable resistant variety is the safest and economic method of management, the breakdown of resistance is commonly being observed in several cases forcing farmers to use chemical pesticides. Under the negative effects of these chemical pesticides, Silicon provides a promising option as it is beneficial to plants, in alleviating the biotic and abiotic stress by imparting resistance. In the present investigation, attempt was made to manage the pest using different sources of Silicon mainly, Ca2SiO4, KSiO3 and MgSiO3. All the three forms of Si were applied as seed priming and soil application at 50 and 100 mg/kg of soil. The results showed that, application of Silicon sources enhanced plant growth promoting traits like germination (7–11.50

Fall armyworm (FAW), Spodoptera frugiperda (J.E. Smith) has significantly affected maize crop yields, production efficiency, and farmers’ incomes in the Indian Eastern Gangetic Plains region since it was first observed in India in 2018. A lack of awareness by maize growers of the appropriate selection, method, and timing of insecticide application not only creates a barrier to sustainable FAW control but also contributes to increased environmental pollution, reduced human health and increased production costs. We demonstrated that FAW inflicted the most damage in early whorl growth stage of maize, regardless of whether chemical insecticides were applied. FAW egg masses and larvae collected from maize fields in which no insecticides had been sprayed showed high parasitism rates by parasitoid wasps; in contrast fields that had been sprayed had much lower rates of parasitism on FAW. Ten hymenopteran parasitoids were observed in maize fields across the study region, suggesting a diversity of natural methods to suppress FAW in maize at different growth stages. These included two FAW egg parasitoids and eight FAW larval parasitoids. Microplitis manilae Ashmead was the most abundant FAW larval parasitoid species, and Telenomus cf. remus was the dominant FAW egg parasitoid species. Endemic FAW parasitoids such as those observed in this study have great potential as part of a sustainable, cost-effective agroecological management strategy, which can be integrated with other methods to achieve effective control of FAW.

The brown planthopper [Nilaparvata lugens (Stål.)] is one of the most destructive insect pests in all the rice-growing regions of the world. The pest is complicated to manage through the blanket application of chemical pesticides. The development of stable, durable N. lugens-resistant rice varieties is the most economical and efficient strategy to manage the pest. Landraces of red rice genotypes possess numerous nutritional and stress-resistant properties, though an exclusive study on the same is yet to be carried out. In the present study, we evaluated 28 red rice genotypes, along with two resistance checks and one susceptibility check, for their resistance to N. lugens. These promising lines revealed differential responses in the defense mechanism against the pest. The resistant accessions showed a greater accumulation of phenols, peroxidase, polyphenol oxidase, catalase, and superoxide dismutase under N. lugens-stressed conditions. However, the concentration of soluble proteins was substantially decreased in all the test genotypes. The concentration of crude silica was at maximum in highly resistant genotypes. Six red rice genotypes, namely Mata Meher, Manipuri Black, Hermonona, Sonahanan, Bavdi, and Bacharya Khuta fall under the highly resistant category, and can be utilized as valuable sources of resistance in breeding programs.

Present era is the era of rapid changes towards modernization or urbanization.Due to the unsustainable and unhealthy approaches people are experiencing unpredictable jolts in the form of global pandemic, pest outbreaks, natural disaster etc.Therefore, sustainable growth approaches are the need of the hour.In that perspective, agritourism has a strong potential in achieving the balance between sustainability and development.Rich natural forest resources of Jumpai hills in North East opens an opportunity window to make this place a hub of apitourism in agritourism sector.Apitourism, a magnificent form of tourism intermingled with beekeeping as a traditional profession and with bee products in ecological, food and medicinal aspects.Linking between beekeeping with ecotourism brings greater value to the beekeeping sector, thereby attracting the development of apitourism.The main focus of considering such approaches is to raise awareness as to the importance of bees towards mankind, enriching knowledge about the use and effects of bee products, apitherapy and importance of our natural world, together with such fundamental values as health, family, creativity, connection and harmony.There is a greater scope of apitourism in the eco-forest of North eastern Jumpai hills, which would be providing a wide range of direct or indirect ecosystem services and livelihood opportunities for the society.These tours combine country's distinctive heritage and rich beekeeping tradition and is aimed at travellers who favour healthy and eco-friendly pursuits.This paper tries to summarize the possibilities of apitourism in agritourism sector and also highlights the challenges that might create hurdles in achieving the stated goal.

A field experiment was conducted at Barasat II Block, North 24 Parganas, West Bengal in two consecutive rabi seasons of 2017 and 2018 to study the relative susceptibility of different commercial cultivars of bell pepper to major insect pests infesting it. Ten recommended commercial cultivars of bell pepper viz Indra, Asha, Biotara, KSP 1070, Fiza, Lakshmi, Arya, Super Gold, Ayesha and Mahabharath were planted on 15 November each year to know their relative susceptibility to the major insect pests namely thrips (Scirtothrips dorsalis Hood), aphid (Aphis gossypii Glover, Myzus persicae Sulzer), whitefly (Bemisia tabaci Gennadius), fruit borer (Helicoverpa armigera Hubner) and chilli mite (Polyphagotarsonemus latus Banks). Pest population studies revealed that the varieties Indra, Asha, Biotara and Fiza were relatively less susceptible to all the major pests of bell pepper, whereas, Super Gold, Mahabharath, Ayesha and Arya were relatively more susceptible. The variety Indra resulted in less damage score (0.82) after 120 days of planting which resulted in enhancement of yield (15.97 tonnes/ha) and benefit-cost ratio (0.60). Coloured varieties of bell pepper were more vulnerable to pest infestation.

A field study was undertaken in the Institutional Research Farm, Institute of Agriculture, Visva-Bharati, Sriniketan to evaluate the seasonal incidence and population variation of red cotton bug with respect to weather conditions and its insecticidal management during kharif, 2018-19. Experiments were conducted in a Randomized Block Design (RBD) with three replications having nine different insecticidal treatments including one untreated control. Red cotton bug population was recorded from Second week of August and continued till harvest with a peak population Peak population at Second week of November. Multivariate correlation studies showed that the red cotton bug population was significantly positively correlated with Temperature Gradient and significantly negatively correlated with Relative Humidity and Rainfall. Among the different insecticides tested combination of Imidacloprid 6% + Lambda Cyhalothrin 4% SL @ 500 ml/ha proved most effective and giving 71.14% and 94.84% pest population reduction in two consecutive treatment imposition.

Studies were taken up to monitor the seasonal occurrence of whitefly population in cotton as well as its insecticidal management under field conditions of Institutional Research Farm, Institute of Agriculture, Visva-Bharati, Sriniketan, during the kharif season of 2018-19.Population reduction of whitefly was done with eight insecticides having different molecular composition and one untreated check.The experiment was drawn in a Randomised Block Design with three replications.The occurrence of whitefly was noticed during the fourth week of July (0.2 whitefly per plant) which continued till late December.Highest whitefly population was found during fourth week of September (12.24Whitefly per plant).Correlation studies of whitefly population and abiotic factors suggested that whitefly population was significantly correlated with maximum temperature at 1% level of significance.Among the different insecticides tested for population reduction of whitefly in Bt cotton it was noticed that combination product of Imidacloprid 6% + Lambda Cyhalothrin 4%SL @ 500 ml/ha and 450 ml/ha proved most effective and gave 94.15% and 93.81% pest population reduction after second spray imposition respectively.

Mungbean Vigna radiata (L.) Wilzeck suffers from poor productivity due to infestation of wide array of insect pests among which the whitefly Bemisia tabaci (Genn.) and aphid Aphis craccivora (Koch) are important. The present study evaluates the impact of seed biopriming with plant growth promoting soil beneficial microbes along with spray of three biopesticides against B. tabaci and A. craccivora. Seed biopriming with Rhizobium, phosphate solubilising bacteria, Pseudomonas fluorescens (Migula) and Trichoderma viride (Pers.) along with one spray of Verticillium lecanii (Zimmermann) was found to be the most effective treatment against B. tabaci and A. craccivora recording maximum up to 87.63% and 81.02% reduction in population, respectively. Therefore, integration of seed biopriming with plant growth promoting beneficial soil microbes and application of biopesticides is suggested.

Fall armyworm (FAW) Spodoptera frugiperda (J. E. Smith), an important invasive pest to Indian Sub Continent was found to infest rabi maize in Harischandrapur 2 block of Malda district in West Bengal during the end of November 2018. The infestation was then spread to other five major maize growing blocks of the district. Both rabi and summer maize was infested by the pest. However, the damage was more in summer maize as compared to rabi maize recording maximum of 27.56%. Furthermore, the identity of the pest was confirmed based on the morphological characters and also by amplifying cytochrome oxidase gene I (658 bp) and the DNA barcode was generated for the same. Life table studies of the pest showed maximum mortality at the younger instars having an age specific survivorship curve of type-III. Therefore, effective pest management strategies may be planned when pest is in early larval stages.

Groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) belongs to family Fabaceae, is an important oil seed crop that contributes a major role in economy around the world (FAO, 2006; Narada et al., 2003; Nwokolo, 1996; Wiess, 2000). It is the 3rd most important source of vegetable protein and contains 50 percent edible oil, 28 percent digestible protein and 20 percent carbohydrates (Bhatti and Soomro, 1996; Christensen et al., 2004; Shah et al., 2012). In India, Groundnut is cultivated during kharif season (June-July to September–October) mostly under rainfed conditions with a few protective irrigations. The crop is also grown during Rabi season (October-November to February-March) under residual moisture and International Journal of Current Microbiology and Applied Sciences ISSN: 2319-7706 Volume 8 Number 12 (2019) Journal homepage: http://www.ijcmas.com

An experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect on seed biopriming in integration of bio-pesticides on the infestation of pod borer complex of mungbean in the Institutional farm of Institute of Agriculture, Visva Bharati University during 2014-2015.Seed bio-priming was done by Pseudomonas fluorescence and other bio-agents, where the bio-pesticides used were Beauveria bassiana, Verticillium lecanii and Metarhizium anisopliae.Studies on different biochemical parameters of the plants were made to highlight on the impact on pod borer infestation.The results of the experiment suggested that seed bio-priming with Pseudomonas fluorescence along with consecutive spray of Beaveria bassiana and Verticillium lecanii were found effective to reduce the infestation of pod borer complex upto 75.02% as compared to untreated check.It also reduced the percentage of damaged pods upto 11.86%.However, Pseudomonas fluorescence had a clear impact towards enhancement of phenol and ortho-dihydroxy phenol content along with peroxidise activities in mungbean leaf thus imparting resistance to pod borer complex.