Glimpses of Semiochemical Research Applications in Indian Horticulture 249
than 2000 ; Zhu et al. 1987 ; Attygalle et al. 1988 ;
Kong et al. 1990 ; Srinivasan and Babu 2000 ;
Cork et al. 2001 ; Andagopal et al. 2010 ), efforts
were limited to explore the semiochemical pos-
sibilities for other sucking pests viz., whiteflies,
aphids, hoppers where a clear scientific under-
standing of chemical ecology interactions be-
tween host plant-pest-natural enemy will help
to design reliable, robust, and sustainable IPM
components. Globally, much of success in utiliz-
ing the host plant defense was already realized
against several sucking pests viz., grain aphid,
Sitobion avenae; oat aphid, Rhopalosiphum
padi, etc. Field plots of wheat sprayed hydrauli-
cally with volatile plant activator, cis-jasmone at
50 g ha−1 in 200 l ha−1, in mid May and early June
reduced aphid infestations consistently (Bruce
et al. 2003 ). Application of methyl salicylate, a
plant signal associated with oat aphid, R. padi
either as an aqueous emulsion or from slow re-
lease vials significantly reduced settling of aphid
spring migrants and served as an attractant for
beneficial insects (James and Price 2004 ).
Further, role of host plant volatiles and host
plant cues were less explored even for major lepi-
dopteran pests. Application of aqueous jasmonic
acid (JA-signalling pathway best known to regu-
late plant defence against herbivore attack) to to-
mato plants with backpack sprayer received 60 %
less leaf damage from herbivory than control
plants with enhanced parasitism of lepidopteran
larvae (Thaler 1999a, b). The push–pull system
of IPM (where companion plants are used instead
of synthetic chemicals to deliver semiochemicals
in the field) developed for small holder agricul-
ture has been used with much success in maize
and sorghum in eastern Africa (Hassanali et al.
2008 ; Khan et al. 2008 ).
A study to explore the oviposition preferenc-
es of the gravid female moths of H.armigera to
identify the strong kairomone source(s) from its
favored hosts viz., marigold, maize, sunflower,
and pigeonpea revealed that young pods of pi-
geonpea are the best kairomone source that could
be used for the management of H.armigera in a
cotton ecosystem (Anitha and Peter 2011 ). Fun-
nel traps baited with synthetic floral odors of
African marigold, Tagetes erecta and sweet pea,
Lathyrus odoratus caught significantly more H.
armigera (Bruce and Cork 2001 ; Bruce et al.
2002 ). The marigold blend contained benzalde-
hyde, (+)-linalool, phenylacetaldehyde and (S)-
(-)-limonene, and the sweet pea blend (-)-lin-
alool, phenylacetaldehyde, benzyl alcohol and
diacetone (4-hydroxy-4-methyl-2-pentanone) in
natural ratio. Although the target specificity and
level of attraction obtained with floral traps was
too low for mass trapping, the floral cues could
possibly be used for monitoring female H. armi-
gera populations in their integrated control. The
electrophysiological responses of H. armigera
to a range of putative kairomonal compounds
showed that of nine host plant-produced terpe-
noids tested, ocimene and beta-phellandrene
elicited the highest responses and of the six aro-
matic compounds tested phenylacetaldehyde and
benzaldehyde elicited the largest responses (Bur-
quiere et al. 2001 ). Several studies to understand
the role of kairomones from lepidopteron pests in
eliciting a host searching behavior of their natu-
ral enemies (Ballal and Singh 1999 ; Bakthavat-
salam et al. 2000 , 2007 ; Sahayaraj and Paulraj
2001 ; Singh et al. 2002 ; Sahayaraj 2008 ; Srivas-
tava et al. 2008 ; Maruthadurai et al. 2011 ) with a
aim to manipulate role of entomophagous insects
in biological control programs has already been
attempted.
Potential of trap crops for integrated manage-
ment of several vegetable pests viz., H. armigera,
S. litura (Zhong-Shi et al. 2010 , 2012 ), major
cabbage pests (Srinivasan and Krishnamoorthy
1991 ; Muniappan et al. 2001 ) was well estab-
lished. Nevertheless, elucidation and identifica-
tion of specific chemical compounds responsible
for attractiveness of trap crops to main crop will
further ease the crop-phenology related manipu-
lations and pave way for push–pull strategies.
Further, enhancing the efficacy of mass trapping
programs through combinations of pheromones
with attractive host-plant kairomones have been
attempted in several pests (Stelinski et al. 2013 ;
Ryall et al. 2013 ). This demand in depth stud-
ies to determine the optimal combinations of
attractants and trap designs to maximize target
pest capture. In field experiments, significantly
more diamondback moths were captured in traps