Trap crops: A potential pest management tool in agriculture

Abstract

Different pest management approaches although have been developed, yet, cultural control always remains the first priority of the farmers as it is easy to adopt. Thus, this review describes the advantages and types of trap cropping that are being followed along with the qualities of trap crops. The pest establishment, survival, development and spread is a multidimensional interaction, dependent on host plant, the environment, and the pest itself. Merely by modifying the cropping pattern, both spatially and temporally can be helpful in managing the pests in eco-friendly manner. Stem borer control in Africa has attained huge success through this trap cropping or modified trap cropping. Thus, different modalities of trap cropping such as conventional trap cropping, dead end trap cropping, genetically modified trap cropping, perimeter trap cropping, sequential trap cropping, multiple and push pull trap cropping like different methods can be adopted for diverting the pests from their main hosts and minimizing the damage caused by them.