Eco-Friendly Management Of Insect Pests In Agriculture By Pheromones: A Review

ABSTRACT: Insect pest poses a major threat to agricultural commodities and profitable crop production. To overcome the pest problem, farmers use different kinds of chemical pesticides, that generate negative impacts on the environment and human health. Usage of pheromones to control insect pest provide numerous benefits. Pheromone is a semiochemical produced and used by insects for communication. Different insect species biosynthesize pheromones in various sites of their body using different pathways, i.e., female moth uses mono- or poly-olefinicacetates, alcohols, or aldehydes compounds, whereas male moth uses aromatic compounds, mostly to attract their counterpart. These pheromones are biosynthesized in the modified epidermal cells through the modified fatty acid biosynthetic pathways. On the other hand, bark beetles produce terpenes, alcohols, or bicyclic ketals in their oenocytic cells, which act as a signal for gathering other members. The ways of chemical communication can be used to direct the agronomical harmful pests into the trap, which subsequently limits damage of crops by them. Pheromone traps provide various useful applications like monitoring the presence of any exotic-pests, trapping out specific pests, disrupt their mating, or even combine the application with insecticides. Several environmental factors like rainfall, temperature, wind speed, and non-environmental factors including the size of the pest population, and presence of migratory pests affect the effectiveness of pheromone traps. However, usage of pheromone provides an eco-friendly and biorational way of controlling the pest in agriculture, which out weight the harmful effects of chemical pesticides. This review discusses various classes of pheromones and their usage in eco-friendly management of insect pests. 

Keywords: Pheromone, ecofriendly agriculture, pheromone traps, eco-chemicals, insect pest