Flowering plant protects crops from wheat bug
In a paper just published in the journal Agricultural and Forest Entomology, Sundar Tiwari, who has just completed his PhD at Lincoln University through the campus-based Bio-Protection Research Centre, outlines his research into protecting brassica seedlings from the wheat bug.
He is now an Associate Professor heading the Department of Entomology at Nepal’s Agriculture and Forestry University.
The paper shows that alyssum (Lobularia maritima L. Desvaux cv. Benthamii White) planted around the perimeter of a brassica field protects the seedlings by “trapping” wheat bugs.
Trap cropping is a form of companion planting, using one plant to keep insect pests away from nearby plants. It can help to reduce the need for insecticide.
Brassicas, such as broccoli and cauliflower, are not just important horticultural crops; many farmers also plant fields of brassicas as stock feed. The wheat bug is a major pest of brassica seedlings, and is usually controlled by treating seeds with neonicotinoids and spraying with chlorpyrifos and pyrethroid insecticides.
“These practices can generate severe external costs, including to human health, the environment and biodiversity,” Associate Professor Tiwari and his co-authors wrote. “Trap cropping is one alternative option to protect brassica seedlings from N. huttoni.”
For his PhD research, Associate Professor Tiwari tested alyssum, as well as wheat (Triticum aestivum L. cv. Morph), coriander (Coriandrum sativum L.cv. Santo) and clover (Trifolium repens L. cv. Nomad), for their ability to draw the wheat bug away from brassica crops.
While coriander and clover did not perform well, alyssum and, to a lesser extent, alyssum and wheat together did.
“To significantly reduce wheat bugs in brassica fields, first establish alyssum at its flowering stage or alyssum plus wheat at its seed-ripening stage around the perimeter of the brassica field,” Associate Professor Tiwari says. “This can prevent wheat bugs from migrating from outside the field into the brassica crop.”
Once the bugs are established in the trap crop, and the brassica seedlings have matured past their vulnerable stage, the trap crops can either be removed (along with the wheat bugs) or treated with suitable insecticide, but making sure to not taint the brassica crop.
“Such a trap-cropping protocol potentially reduces pesticide use in brassicas, and can also deliver multiple ecosystem services such as biological control of insect pests,” Associate Professor Tiwari concludes.
“Evaluation of potential trap plant species for the wheat bug Nysius huttoni (Hemiptera: Lygaeidae) in forage brassicas” Agricultural and Forest Entomology, https://doi.org/10.1111/afe.12379
About the Bio-Protection Research Centre
The Bio-Protection Research Centre is a Centre of Research Excellence funded by the New Zealand Government. It was established in 2003 to drive innovation in sustainable approaches to pest, pathogen and weed control. The Centre has seven partner institutes: AgResearch, Lincoln University, Massey University, Plant & Food Research, Scion, University of Canterbury, and University of Otago, with members throughout New Zealand.
