Testing basil as banker plant in IPM greenhouse tomato crops

Abstract

In order to reduce the use of pesticides, banker plants may be added to crop systems. They can improve the presence of predatory arthropods by offering shelter or alternative food. In the present study, we analyzed basil as banker plant in a greenhouse IPM tomato crop system testing different plant combinations in monocultures vs. dicultures. We measured the influence of the presence of basil on the reduction of pest number, predator population stability, plant health and crop yield. Significantly fewer pests were present in dicultures when basil was present, but the number of predators, crop yield and leaf health was not statistically different between plant combinations. Under the given conditions, basil could not be categorized as an efficient banker plant for Macrolophus pygmaeus.

Aromatic plants affect the selection of host tomato plants by Bemisia tabaci biotype B

“…Basil was also reported to have a repulsive effect on the greenhouse whitefly T. vaporariorum (Parolin et al., ). Although reductions in other pests have been reported through the use of basil (Schader et al., ; Basedow et al., ; Kianmatee & Ranamukhaarachchi, ; Beizhou et al., , ) or citronella grass (Kianmatee & Ranamukhaarachchi, ) we did not find any reports of repellency or reductions in field populations of B. tabaci .…”

Constitutive exposure to the volatile methyl salicylate reduces per‐capita foraging efficiency of a generalist predator to learned prey associations

“…Considering that basil is an effective repellent against tomato pests such as the silver leaf whitefly, Bemisia tabaci Gennadius (Carvalho et al., ), and the greenhouse whitefly, Trialeurodes vaporariorum Westwood (Parolin et al., ), our data suggest that basil is an effective companion plant for tomato, deterring pests without compromising predator–prey relationships.…”

Repellent Effect of Basil (<em>Ocimum</em> spp) on Pea Aphid (<em>Acyrthosiphon pisum</em> Harris) and Potential Use in Crops

“…The repellent effect of O. americanum L. essential oil was also showed on Agrotis ipsilon Hufnagel (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) [26]. In greenhouse [27], demonstrated that the presence of O. basilicum significantly reduces Trialeurodes vaporariorum W. population on tomato plants. Similarly [28], demonstrated that Ocimum gratissimum and O. basilicum reduced Tuta absoluta oviposition (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae) on tomato plants in laboratory condition.…”