Trap crop(s)

Definition

A plant or crop stand deliberately positioned to attract, concentrate, or retain pest insects (or other herbivores) away from a more valuable main crop, thereby serving as a protective decoy. Trap crops exploit pest preferences for certain host-plant volatiles, colors, or phenological stages, and are often managed by removal, destruction, or targeted pesticide application once pest density reaches threshold. The strategy is a central tactic in push-pull systems and conservation biological control.

Etymology

From 'trap' (device for catching animals) + 'crop' (cultivated plant), reflecting the functional analogy to a lure-and-capture mechanism applied at the agricultural scale.

Example

In East African maize systems, farmers plant Napier grass (Pennisetum purpureum) as a trap crop along field margins to pull stemborer moths (Busseola fusca, Chilo partellus) away from the cereal crop; the grasses also serve as banker plants for parasitoid wasps.

Synonyms

• decoy crop
• sacrificial crop

Related Terms

• push-pull system
• banker plant
• Companion planting
• Intercropping
• Integrated Pest Management
• host-plant preference
• allelochemical

Usage Notes

Distinguished from border crops (which may simply block pest movement) and cover crops (which primarily improve soil or suppress weeds). Effectiveness depends on strong pest preference for the trap over the main crop, synchronized phenology, and timely trap-crop destruction to prevent it becoming a pest reservoir. The term is typically used as a countable noun; 'trap cropping' denotes the practice.