Many people are against genetically modified plants to control pest populations. An alternative could be the use of insect pheromones to decrease the population of insects destroying crops.
I think not because synthetic pheromone traps only help reduce populations in a given area, but they do not completely control the population of a pest in a crop. In addition, pheromones traps are species specific and the range of action is limited and for many species of lepidoptera there are still no synthetic pheromones available on the market. Traps with phermomones serve more as a population monitoring tool to generate early warnings to perform control with other biological, chemical, cultural, ethological and genetic methods. On the other hand, transgenic plants do not present any inconvenience for the control of a pest with the advantage that Bt toxins works for most Lepidoptera species.
Hi
Yes, you can use synthetic pheromones, but you need to install a lot number of traps, of course, the use of pheromones is effective when use at the appropriate time.
One cannot make a generic answer to that question because several parameters must be taken into consideration, notably technical success of pheromones compared to GMOs, cost of deployment and cost of disposal. Also it depends on the agricultural system, i.e., species targeted and crop to be protected.
Thank you very much for your constructive comments. I shall take them into consideration in one of my new popular books(in french)about the biological control of pest in agriculture..
Have a nice week end
jp
Synthetic pheromone traps are often used 1) to monitor the flight activity of target insect, 2) to reduce the population of the target insect, and 3) to provide information necessary for other control tools like chemical/biological control. Target species/crop ID and application dose/timing are vital elements in the insect management evaluation.
Synthetic pheromones are tools used to help in the control of the insect pests, it is used in monetoring pest levels or used in large numbers of dispensers for mating disruption or in mass trapping according to the species to be controlled. While transgenic plants can be used to control wide range of insect pests.
Hi, I think the comparison synthetic pheromones replace the transgenic plants is not correct. Pheromones of main elements for IPM. Pheromones before and after of pest Adults appear with destroying by pesticides or even directly by pheromones in F1 of pest. However pheromones because of appropriative for insect not effect on secondary pest. Production of pheromones is many cost. It should be time to use pheromones that coincide with the peak of flight and sexual activity of the insect. This time is needed with proper knowledge of pest biology.The environment used by the pheromones should be either enclosed or so large that Mating female insects do not enter to the area because the pheromones are not affected on them.
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