The majority of plants that live in the wild emit odor producing chemicals that attract insects that specifically prey on insect, fungi, and microbial pests that threaten the plants. Agricultural practice has bred this defense mechanism out of food products and the majority of common house plants. Martin Heil of CINVESTAV-Irapuato in Mexico and colleagues from Sweden have devised a method to use natural defense for crops instead of pesticides by invoking the call to insect helpers with mechanical devices.
The variety of odors that wild plants emit when the plant is endangered by any harmful agent is very specific. Different odors are emitted depending on the nature of the species that is attacking the plant. The difference in chemicals in each odor calls a specific insect to help the plant overcome the pest. When the pest has been vanquished, the helping insects move on to other locations.
The researchers propose that it is possible to recreate the capacity for crop plants to use natural protection instead of pesticide in two ways. The most complicated way is to reintroduce the genes that produce the odor emitting properties of the plants. A more readily available approach is to place machines in the crop fields that emit the odor producing chemicals that attract pest killing insects if the crops become a target for insect enemies or other plant pests. The solutions produce a reduction in the use of pesticides that kill helpful insects. The pesticides have been found in human drinking water.
