Breeding and biotechnological strategies for enhancing sucking pest tolerance in cotton: Current perspectives and future prospects

Cotton is often hailed as the "white gold" of agriculture due to its unparalleled contribution to the global textile industry, economic sustainability and rural livelihoods. Cotton possesses natural fibre of high-quality. It supports millions of farmers worldwide and serves as a vital raw material for many industries. However, cotton production is severely threatened by pest attacks. Sucking pests such as aphids (Aphis gossypii), whiteflies (Bemisia tabaci), thrips (Thrips tabaci) and jassids (Amrasca biguttula biguttula) affect cotton productivity to a significant extent. These pests not only cause direct damage to the crop by feeding on plant sap but also act as vectors of viral diseases, leading to substantial yield and fibre quality losses. Conventional pest management practices depend on chemical pesticides, which pose environmental risks, increase production costs and lead to pesticide resistance. Breeding for sucking pest tolerance is a sustainable alternative that enhances crop resilience while reducing dependence on chemical control measures. Exploring the genetic basis of sucking pest resistance in cotton, emphasizing key Quantitative Trait Loci (QTLs), resistant genotypes and physiological and morphological defense mechanisms such as trichome density, leaf toughness and secondary metabolites are prerequisite for creating sucking pest tolerance. KC2 and JR 23 are found to be promising jassid resistant varieties developed through conventional breeding in cotton. Advances in molecular breeding, Marker-Assisted Selection (MAS) and genomic tools have enabled more precise identification and incorporation of resistance traits into elite cultivars. Additionally, transgenic and gene-editing approaches have also proven useful in developing pest tolerant varieties retaining the fibre quality and yield. Breeding strategies along with genomic selection, multi-environment testing and biotechnological innovations can be used to develop sucking pest-tolerant cotton varieties suited to diverse agro-climatic conditions. This review highlights the different strategies crucial for improving sucking pest resistance in cotton.