Abstract
Biological control agents and semiochemicals have become essential parts of the integrated pest management of insect pests over recent years, as the incorporation of semiochemicals with natural enemies and entomopathogenic microbials has gained significance. The potential of insect pheromones to attract natural enemies has mainly been established under laboratory conditions, while semiochemicals from plants have been used to attract and retain natural enemies in field conditions using strategies such as trap crops and the push–pull mechanism. The best-known semiochemicals are those used for parasitoids–insect pest–plant host systems. Semiochemicals can also aid in the successful dispersal of entomopathogenic microbials. The use of semiochemicals to disseminate microbial pathogens is still at the initial stage, especially for bacterial and viral entomopathogens. Future studies should focus on the integration of semiochemicals into management strategies for insects, for which several semiochemical compounds have already been studied. More effective formulations of microbial agents, such as granular formulations of entomopathogenic fungi (EPFs), along with bio-degradable trap materials, could improve this strategy. Furthermore, more studies to evaluate species-specific tactics may be needed, especially where more than one key pest is present.
Highlights
Biological management of insect pests is an integral part of integrated pest management (IPM)programs and requires active human involvement
We explore various aspects of the interaction of biological control agents (BCA) with semiochemicals and studies done on the interaction of semiochemicals with insect BCAs (Table 1)
The kairomones secreted from the host body indicate the suitability of the host for parasitoid progeny and are represented by amino acids and salts in the hemolymph [12,56]. These kairomones can be used in insect pest management, for instance, when wheat plants were sprayed with (Z)-jasmone, they became less attractive to aphids and instead attracted more parasitoids in both laboratory and field conditions, and, due to increased parasitism, the aphid population declined [20]
Summary
Biological management of insect pests is an integral part of integrated pest management (IPM). Biological management of insect pests includes the use of predators [e.g., Coccinella septempunctata L. Semiochemicals play a major role in the biological management of arthropods, as they are involved in the interspecific chemical communications between plants, insect pests, parasitoids and predators and are being used in IPM [7,8,9]. Semiochemicals are implicated in attracting entomopathogenic microbials to manage insect pests [12,15] and can be used to disseminate the entomopathogenic microbials [16,17]. Auto-dissemination systems, which employee both entomopathogens and attractive, species-specific semiochemicals, enable a more effective pathogen dispersal. This system is called ‘lure and kill’. Cydia pomonella (L.) (Lepidopetra: Tortricidae), Adoxophyes orana (Fischer von Röslerstamm) (Lepidopetra: Tortricidae)
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