Overlooked side effects of organic farming inputs attract soil insect crop pests.

Abstract

Organic farming has been praised for many sound reasons, but there are some negative effects of organic practices. Research on the interactions between soil insect pests and organic farming practices is still scarce, although such interactions might sometimes lead to severe crop damage. Here, we explore the influences of organic farming inputs and key host crops on the oviposition behavior of soil insect pests likely to infest crops. We also shed light on the factors driving this behavior and analyze 4yr of data from an on-farm investigation. Our study offers clear support to the idea that decomposing organic matter and legume crops affect oviposition behavior and provides evidence that butyric acid and 1-hexanol are major attractants. The results suggest that poor management or returning decomposing organic matter to the field is risky. The silver lining, however, is that oviposition behavior can be disrupted by the identified key attractants to benefit crop protection.