Tomato Yellow Leaf Curl Virus Disease: Management, Molecular Biology, Breeding for Resistance

This book will awaken the interest of breeders, phytopathologists, environmentalists, extension services, plant virologists, entomologists and molecular biologists. It deals both with the epidemiological aspects of the disease and with integrated pest management in the field. It discusses the efforts aimed at breeding tomato plants resistant to the virus (using classical breeding, marker-assisted breeding and genetic engineering). It summarizes the techniques used for diagnosis, eradication and certification and emphasizes the problems inherent to the control of the virus insect vector, the use of pesticides and the resistance acquired by the insects, the appearance of new whitefly biotypes with previously unknown characteristics, and the complex relations between virus, vector and plant host.