Dead-end trap cropping in pest management

Abstract Dead-end trap cropping is a particular case of trap cropping involving trap crop plants on which targeted insect pests cannot survive. Dead-end trap crops can function as a sink for pests, preventing their movement from the trap crop to the main crop, thus greatly reducing reliance on pesticide applications. Wintercress Barbarea vulgaris Aiton (Brassicaceae) and vetiver grass Chrysopogon zizanioides (L.) Roberty (Poaceae) are among the plant species most-studied as dead-end trap crops for diamondback moth Plutella xylostella L. (Lepidoptera: Plutellidae) and the stemborers Chilo partellus Swinhoe (Lepidoptera: Crambidae) and S. inferens Walker (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae), respectively. Additional dead-end crops target important pests like cotton bollworm, corn earworm, green peach aphid, western tarnished plant bug, root-knot and root-lesion nematodes, silverleaf whitefly, and different species of fruit flies and thrips. Besides the inherent characteristics of a plant species that make it naturally function as a dead-end trap crop, such as the presence of particular plant secondary metabolites, other types of dead-end trap crops involve the use of transgenesis and the use of biological control agents. This article reviews the topic of dead-end trap cropping, providing also an explanation of some of the mechanisms involved and the factors that affect the successful implementation of this type of trap cropping.