Maize crops (Conventional and Bt transgenic maize) can use as trap crop to protect other crops

Maize crops (Conventional and Bt transgenic maize) can use as trap crop to protect other crops

Trap cropping is a promising, environmentally sound approach to manage pests in agricultural and forest systems through exploiting insect preferences for certain host plants. In a wide range of cropping systems, trap cropping greatly reduces damage, disease and insecticide use on the main crops, and thus increases the yield of the main crop. In a study of oviposition preference and plant damage evaluation in Bt-transgenic maize, conventional maize and other potential hosts by #fallarmyworm suggested that oviposition of FAW on transgenic and conventional maize was significantly higher than that on wheat, sorghum, foxtail millet, peanut and soybean while showing no significant difference between transgenic or conventional maize. FAW adults mainly laid eggs on Bt maize, while the larval density and leaf damage rating or percentage of damaged plants were significantly lower than on conventional maize. Larval density and its damage on conventional maize were significantly higher than that on Bt maize and the other five hosts. Thus, maize is a highly preferred and suitable host for S. frugiperda feeding and ovipositing, and Bt maize can be used as trap crop to protect other crops.