Aromatic plants of East Asia to enhance natural enemies towards biological control of insect pests. A review

摘要

Introducing flowering plants in fields may attract and benefit predators and parasitoids of insect pests and potentially enhance biological control. Through a vote counting analysis, the present review aims at evaluating whether aromatic plants of East Asia could be used in this purpose. A systematic search of the scientific literature was conducted and 64 papers published worldwide were identified, considering 32 aromatic plant species. A significant number of studies reported that Apiaceae aromatic plants attract and benefit insect predators. Constrasting results were found for parasitoids, as well as with plant species from other families (mostly Asteraceae and Lamiaceae). These results are discussed by considering plant and insect traits. Moreover, there are not a significant number of studies reporting an enhancement of biological control in crop or fruit trees adjacent to aromatic plants. However, the number of studies was limited, highlighting the need for further field-based research in various types of agricultural landscapes.