ABSTRACT
Biotechnology exploded onto the scene of crop based agriculture in 1984 with the first report of inheritance of a foreign gene engineered into tobacco plants. Prior to this time, many scientists speculated on the use of recombinant DNA techniques for improvement of organisms. However, the list of plant species that can be transformed has been expanding year after year. Success includes most major economic crops, vegetables, ornamental, medicinal, fruit, tree and pasture plants. Transgenic plant products have been released as commercial varieties in a range of crops. Development of transgenic plants should be based on the overall philosophy of IPM, and consideration of not only gene construct, but alternate mortality factors, reduction of selection pressure, and monitoring of populations for resistance development to design more effective management strategies. To increase the effectiveness and usefulness of transgenic plants, it is important to develop resistance management strategies to minimize the rate of development of resistance in insect populations to the target genes.
