If plants are affected by pests, many people use pesticides to combat them. But it can also be done without chemistry, as an experiment proves. Accordingly, dwarf basil can protect close plants from spinning mites due to its ethereal fragrance Eugenol. The fragrance deteres the mites that are harmful to the plant, attracts its predators and also activates a gene in the crops that helps pest deflect.
Plant pests can massively add plants: they eat leaves or ensure that the leaves dry up. Farmers often use pesticides in such an infestation. However, many of these pesticides contain chemical-synthetic poisons that get into drinking water and food, destroy food sources of animals or kill benefits. Researchers are therefore looking for effective and economic alternatives to protect plants from pest infestation.
One approach is to use natural interactions and defense mechanisms of plants. For example, a research team around Gen-ICHIRO Arimura from the scientific university of Tokyo has recently found
