My name is Olajide Fatukasi. I did my undergraduate degree (B. Tech) in Biology (Storage-Option) at Federal University of Technology Akure, Nigeria. I obtained my MSc in Integrated Pest management at Harper Adams University, UK. For my MSc thesis, I studied the In-Vitro Activities of Isothiocyanate on Fusarium Species, the Major Causal Agent of Head Blight in Small Grain Cereals; this investigated the antifungal efficacy of the brassica extract (Isothiocyanates) at different concentrations in inhibiting the conidia germination and mycelial growth of Fusarium graminearum, F. culmurum and F. poae. My PhD research focuses on how different Rhizobium-pea symbiosis affects pea leaf weevil behaviour.
Despite the abundance of plant macronutrient, nitrogen in the environment, plants are unable to use it directly for their growth and development. In order to obtain nitrogen from the environment, Rhizobia, beneficial soil microbes forms symbiotic relationship with plant family, Fabaceae, by converting the atmospheric nitrogen to a usable form in the soil for plants to use it, and the microbes gets carbon nutrients in return, from the plants. With the availability of necessary nutrients in plants, the nutrients improves the quality of the plants. Healthy plants attract insect pests, such as pea leaf weevils (Sitona lineatus), a major pest that damages the plant root and foliage, reduces the nitrogen fixation, nitrogen and yield of field pea (Fabaceae: Pisum sativum). My research focuses on how the Rhizobia-field pea symbiosis modulates the nutritional and defensive compounds of field peas, and how the symbiosis affects the behaviour and fitness of pea leaf weevils. Understanding how the symbiosis affects the behaviour of pea leaf weevils will contribute to the development of a sustainable management strategy for pea leaf weevils.