Thrips as the vectors of tospoviruses in Indian agriculture

Abstract

Thrips being important sucking pests transmit the deadly tospoviruses in comercial crops in a persistent and propagative manner. Sixteen thrips species are known to transmit 29 tospoviruses worldwide. In India, only six thrips species are so far known to transmit six tospoviruses. The first study in India on thrips is dated in 1856. The research on tospoviruses was initiated in India during 1960s, however, the first study on thrips-tospovirus was published in 1981. Not many studies have been undertaken on the thrips-tospovirus in India. Several reviews have been published on the thrips-tospovirus research, where the Indian works have hardly been reflected. In this chapter, we summarise the studies on thrips-tospovirus undertaken in India.