TITLE:
Potentials of Pesticidal Plants in Enhancing Diversity of Pollinators in Cropped Fields
AUTHORS:
Juliana Godifrey, Ernest R. Mbega, Patrick A. Ndakidemi
KEYWORDS:
Beneficial Insects, Cropping Options, Plant-Insects Interaction, Pesticidal Plants, Pollinators
JOURNAL NAME:
American Journal of Plant Sciences,
Vol.9 No.13,
December
21,
2018
ABSTRACT: Declines in populations of pollinators in
agricultural based landscapes have raised a concern, which could be
associated with various factors such as intensive farming systems like
monocropping and the use of non-selective synthetic pesticides. Such practices
are likely to remove beneficial non-crop plants around or nearby the cropped
fields. This may in turn result into losses of pollinators
due to loss of the natural habitats for insects therefore, interfering the interaction between beneficial insects and
flowering crop plants. Initiatives to restore friendly habitats for pollinators
require multidisciplinary approaches. One of these could be the use of
pesticidal flowering plants as part of field margin plants with the aim of encouraging the
population of pollinators whilst reducing the number of pests. Farmers should
be fully engaged in the efforts of creating conducive environments to
pollinators and be well equipped with the knowledge of proper habitats
management strategies in agricultural fields. Developing appropriate
conservation strategies to combat decline of pollinators is of high importance
and thus there is a need to evaluate management practices, which potentially
favour the populations of pollinators. Therefore, this review aims at
unravelling available evidences on habitats manipulation options through
provision of flowering plants along the field margins that have shown to
increase plant biodiversity surrounding the cropped fields. It also summarizes
the options for increasing plant biodiversity, which have improved habitats for
the pollinating insects and beneficially boosting pollination services in agro-ecosystems.