Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2022 Apr;51(2):171-187.
doi: 10.1007/s13744-021-00939-2. Epub 2022 Jan 12.

Companion and Smart Plants: Scientific Background to Promote Conservation Biological Control

Maria Carolina Blassioli-Moraes  1 , Madelaine Venzon  2 , Luis Claudio Paterno Silveira  3 , Lessando Moreira Gontijo  4 , Pedro Henrique Brum Togni  5 , Edison Ryoiti Sujii  1 , Marcelo Mendes Haro  6 , Miguel Borges  1 , Mirian Fernandes Furtado Michereff  7 , Michely Ferreira Santos de Aquino  7 , Raúl Alberto Laumann  8 , John Caulfield  9 , Michael Birkett  9
Affiliations
Review

Companion and Smart Plants: Scientific Background to Promote Conservation Biological Control

Maria Carolina Blassioli-Moraes et al. Neotrop Entomol. 2022 Apr.

Abstract

To attain sustainable agricultural crop protection, tools such as host plant resistance, enhanced ecosystem services (i.e. conserving natural enemies) and the deployment of companion plants should be promoted in pest management programmes. These agro system manipulations could be based on chemical ecology studies considering the interactions with natural enemies and pests, regarding specifically plant defence signalling. Further, new crop protection strategies might rise from widening the knowledge regarding how herbivore-induced plant volatiles can govern a multifaceted defence response including natural enemy recruitment, pest repellence or induced defence in neighbouring plants. It is crucial to use a multitrophic approach to understand better the interactions involving companion plants, herbivores and natural enemies in the field, increasing the knowledge to build more efficient and sustainable pest management strategies. In this review, we explore the perspectives of companion plants and their semiochemicals to promote conservation biological control according to the 'smart plants' concept. Further, we discuss the advantages and disadvantages of using companion plants and explore the application of companion plants in different agroecosystems using several case studies.

Keywords: Herbivores; Natural enemies; Plant diversity; Sustainable agriculture systems.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Almeida NO, Teixeira RA, Carneiro FA, Oliveira CM, Ribeiro VA, Lobo Júnior M, Rocha MR (2018) Occurrence and correlations of nematodes, Fusarium oxysporum and edaphic factors on banana plantations. J Phytopathol 166:265–272
    1. Amaral DSSL, Venzon M, dos Santos HH, Sujii ER, Schmidt JM, Harwood JD (2016) Non-crop plant communities conserve spider populations in chili pepper agroecosystems. Biol Control 103:69–77
    1. Amaral DSSL, Venzon M, Pallini A, Lima P, DeSouza O (2010) A Diversificação da vegetação reduz o ataque do bicho-mineiro-do-cafeeiro Leucoptera coffeella (Guérin-Mèneville) (Lepidoptera: Lyonetiidae)? Neotrop Entomol 39:543–548 - PubMed
    1. Andow DA (1991) Vegetational diversiy and arthropod population response. Ann Rev Entomol 36:561–586
    1. Barzman M, Bàrberi P, Birch ANE, Boonekamp P, Dachbrodt-Saaydeh S, Graf B, Hommel B, Jensen JE, Kiss J, Kudsk P, Lamichhane JR, Messéan A, Moonen AC, Ratnadass A, Ricci P, Sarah JL, Sattin M (2015) Eight principles of integrated pest management. Agron Sust Dev 35:1199–1215

LinkOut - more resources