Abstract
Cool season food legumes suffer yield losses from several insects in the field and during storage. The main field insect pests are leafminer and podborer in chickpea; Sitona crinitus and aphids in lentil; aphids, leafminer, and Sitona weevil in faba bean; Bruchus pisorum, aphids and Sitona weevil in pea. In view of the relatively high cost of chemical control in these low cash crops and the possible harmful effects on the fragile environment, special emphasis is placed on an integrated pest management strategy utilizing all practical techniques. For control of leafminer and podborer in chickpea, resistance screening, the application of neem extract, and the possible use of parasitoids have given promising results. Podborer damage is also reduced by intercropping, sprays of nuclear polyhedrosis virus, and the microbial insecticide Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt). In lentil, seed treatment with Promet effectively controls Sitona and is less disruptive to the environment than insecticide sprays. For aphid control in lentil and faba bean, threshold levels for insecticide application and the combination of host plant resistance/tolerance and chemical control are being studied. For control of leafminer in faba bean, dosage and threshold levels of effective chemicals have been identified as well as two main parasitoids. In pea, insecticides are the most widely used technique to reduce densities of aphids and other insect pests.