The strategy of trap cropping for reducing the populations of diamondback moth in common cabbage

Abstract

Plutella xylostella (L.) (Lepidoptera, Plutellidae) is one of the most destructive pests of cruciferous crops throughout the world. In recent years, diamondback moth has had outbreak in Isfahan province and has caused many damages. The use of usual insecticides in multiple suggested doses was not able to control this pest. Furthermore, high residue of used poisons in crops such as cabbage has multiplied the importance of studying different methods of controlling this pest. One of the alternative methods for controlling diamondback moth is trap cropping that has been the conventional tool of pest management and in recent years the use of it has increased considerably. The goal of this research is to study and compare the several host plants’ efficiency (as trap crop) in decreasing population of this important pest in main crop. Following the mentioned subjects, cabbage as main crop and white mustard, Chinese cabbage, turnip and black radish as trap crops in Pirbakran in Isfahan province have been sampled every two weeks. From two weeks after seedling to the end of growth season, once in every two weeks, sampling was done in two forms: larva and pupa on main crop were counted from the sampling of selected 10 plants and adults on trap crop were counted from the sampling of selected three plants. The achieved results showed the number of diamondback moth adult on trap crop has significant difference in different treatments. In the bases, the highest and the lowest mean number of diamondback moth adult per plant at each sampling were observed in white mustard (8.74) and treatment control (1.00), respectively. According to the achieved results, it can be said that white mustard is an efficient and effective trap crop when compared with other experimenting plants for diamondback moth management.