Abstract
Companion planting is a well-known strategy to manage insect pests and support a natural enemy population through vegetative diversification. Trap cropping is one such type of special companion planting strategy that is traditionally used for insect pest management through vegetative diversification used to attract insect pests away from the main crops during a critical time period by providing them an alternative preferred choice. Trap crops not only attract the insects for feeding and oviposition, but also act as a sink for any pathogen that may be a vector. Considerable research has been conducted on different trap crops as companion plant species to develop improved pest management strategies. Despite this, little consensus exists regarding optimal trap cropping systems for diverse pest management situations. An advantage of trap cropping over an artificially released natural enemy-based biological control could be an attractive remedy for natural enemies in cropping systems. Besides, many trap crop species can conserve natural enemies. This secondary effect of attracting natural enemies may be an advantage compared to the conventional means of pest control. However, this additional consideration requires a more knowledge-intensive background to designing an effective trap cropping system. We have provided information based on different trap crops as companion plant, their functions and an updated list of trap cropping applications to attract insect pests and natural enemies that should be proven as helpful in future trap cropping endeavors.
Highlights
Conventional agricultural practices have detrimental effects on the environment, human health and food security, including pesticide contamination of food, insect pest resistance to insecticides and the harm of non-target organisms, including pollinators and beneficial insects [1], resulting in a shift to alternative management strategies, namely biological control for insect pests [2]
With high densities of pests on these new trap plants placed within agricultural fields, preventing insect pest dispersal from the trap plants back on to the focal crop is essential for trap cropping to provide meaningful pest control [8]
It is true that there has been a long history of research involving trap crops, with researchers investigating many pest species (Table 1) and natural enemy species that are attracted to prospective trap crops (Table 2); still, little consensus exists regarding an optimal trap cropping system
Summary
Conventional agricultural practices have detrimental effects on the environment, human health and food security, including pesticide contamination of food, insect pest resistance to insecticides and the harm of non-target organisms, including pollinators and beneficial insects [1], resulting in a shift to alternative management strategies, namely biological control for insect pests [2]. Trap cropping is a means of promising conservation biological control that involves growing another non-crop species in a selected area to attract pests from target crop, preventing pests from reaching the crop and to control that pest in order to reduce damage to the main crop [6,7]. 1930s, there have been numerous reported cases of successful trap cropping for managing various insect pests, resulting in a substantial reduction in the use of pesticides in developing countries [6]. Trap crops can potentially attract natural enemies of insect pests [9,10,11], and through predation and parasitism, these natural enemies reduce the ability of trap crops to act as pest breeding grounds to disperse back into the main crop. We have reviewed the trap cropping literature with a focus on its potential to enhance biological control
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