Skip to content
Research Article Open access CC BY 4.0

Role of Intercropping in Sustainable Insect-Pest Management: A Review

Mohd Salim Mir, Amal Saxena, Raihana Habib Kanth, Waseem Raja, Khursheed Ahmad Dar, S. S. Mahdi, Tauseef Ahmad Bhat, Nasir Bashir Naikoo, Aijaz Nazir, Zakir Amin, Tajamul Mansoor, May Zar Myint, Mohammad Rafiq Khan, Idrees Mohammad, Suhail Ahmad Mir

International Journal of Environment and Climate Change · pp. 3390–3403 · Published 27 Oct 2022

10.9734/ijecc/2022/v12i111390

Abstract

Reduced soil fertility and rising pest and disease pressures are contributing to the already serious problem of global food insecurity. Monoculture is the most labour and resource-intensive form of crop production around the globe. Unfortunately, monocultures are more vulnerable to pests, diseases, and weeds, so the expansion of this system is accompanied by a host of biological issues. Negative effects on the environment, human health, and ecosystem stability are all associated with monocropping because it relies so heavily on the use of chemical plant protection products of all generations of pesticides. Although crop production strategies are important for overall enhancement in production, the intercropping can help farmers in attaining raised economic returns by taking multiple crops in a single season. Intercropping is an alternative strategy for improved resource use efficiency, environmental safety, and sustainable pest management without the use of chemical pesticides that can help mitigate these risks. Intercropping (two or more crop species coexisting) is a cultural practice in pest management that reduces insect pests by increasing ecosystem diversity. Intercropping and planting crops that kill or repel pests, attract natural enemies, or have antibacterial effects can reduce disease and pest damage and pesticide use. Intercropping, where crops grow between main crops, reduces the likelihood of pest infestation. Intercropping is a potential pest management practice because it diversifies crops in an agro-ecosystem to reduce insect populations and attacks. Intercropping relies on a deep understanding of insect ecology and crop traits. Intercropping can be used alone or in combination with host-plant resistance and biological control. Intercropping ensures crop yield stability, protects against crop failure, improves soil fertility, increases soil conservation, and reduces pesticide use, minimizing agriculture's environmental impact. The aim is to define the role and importance of intercropping as a strategy in crop pest management and as a boost for crop production vis-à-vis soil fertility.

Environmental impacts intercropping; pesticide sustainable pest management insect ecology environmental safety pest infestation

References (58)

  1. 1 Biological effects of essential oils – A review [DOI]
  2. 2 Global food demand and the sustainable intensification of agriculture [DOI]
  3. 3 Emerging fungal threats to animal, plant and ecosystem health [DOI]
  4. 4 Adapting agriculture to climate change [DOI]
  5. 5 Plant Disease: A Threat to Global Food Security [DOI]
  6. 6 Increase in crop losses to insect pests in a warming climate [DOI]
  7. 7 World population stabilization unlikely this century [DOI]
  8. 8 Plant Volatiles: Recent Advances and Future Perspectives [DOI]
  9. 9 Climate change, plant diseases and food security: an overview [DOI]
  10. 10 A review of the direct and indirect effects of neonicotinoids and fipronil on vertebrate wildlife [DOI]
  11. 11 Predicting the effects of climate change on natural enemies of agricultural pests [DOI]
  12. 12 Does intercropping enhance yield stability in arable crop production? A meta-analysis [DOI]
  13. 13 Exploiting chemical ecology and species diversity: stem borer and striga control for maize and sorghum in Africa [DOI]
  14. 14 Integrated pest management: the push–pull approach for controlling insect pests and weeds of cereals, and its potential for other agricultural systems including animal husbandry [DOI]
  15. 15 The importance of plant health to food security [DOI]
  16. 16 Management of service crops for the provision of ecosystem services in vineyards: A review [DOI]
  17. 17 Biopesticides: Present Status and the Future Prospects [DOI]
  18. 18 Determination of multi-pesticide residues in green tea with a modified QuEChERS protocol coupled to HPLC-MS/MS [DOI]
  19. 19 Landscape‐level crop diversity benefits biological pest control [DOI]
  20. 20 A meta-analysis of intercropping in Africa: impacts on crop yield, farmer income, and integrated pest management effects [DOI]
  21. 21 Legumes for improving maize yields and income in semi-arid Kenya [DOI]
  22. 22 Approaches and Incentives to Implement Integrated Pest Management that Addresses Regional and Environmental Issues [DOI]
  23. 23 Agricultural pesticide use and food safety: California's model [DOI]
  24. 24 Improvement of yield, pest control and Si nutrition of rice by rice-water spinach intercropping [DOI]
  25. 25 Aphid sex pheromones: from discovery to commercial production [DOI]
  26. 26 Companion planting – do aromatic plants disrupt host‐plant finding by the cabbage root fly and the onion fly more effectively than non‐aromatic plants? [DOI]
  27. 27 The 'push-pull' strategy for stemborer management: a case study in exploiting biodiversity and chemical ecology. [DOI]
  28. 28 Plant Volatiles-based Insect Pest Management in Organic Farming [DOI]
  29. 29 The influence of host and non‐host companion plants on the behaviour of pest insects in field crops [DOI]
  30. 30 Effects of intercropping with aromatic plants on the diversity and structure of an arthropod community in a pear orchard [DOI]
  31. 31 Trends in biological control: public interest, international networking and research direction [DOI]
  32. 32 Repellent and attractive effects of herbs on insects in pear orchards intercropped with aromatic plants [DOI]
  33. 33 Cotton-Basil Intercropping: Effects on Pests, Yields and Economical Parameters in an Organic Field in Fayoum, Egypt [DOI]
  34. 34 Reduce pests, enhance production: benefits of intercropping at high densities for okra farmers in Cameroon [DOI]
  35. 35 Mechanisms underlying the innate attraction of an aphidophagous coccinellid to coriander plants: Implications for conservation biological control [DOI]
  36. 36 Onion as a Pest Control Intercrop in Organic Cabbage (Brassica oleracea) Production System in Ghana [DOI]
  37. 37 Responses of Cereal Aphids and Their Parasitic Wasps to Landscape Complexity [DOI]
  38. 38 Climate change favours a destructive agricultural pest in temperate regions: late spring cold matters [DOI]
  39. 39 Basil ( Ocimum basilicum L.) attracts and benefits the green lacewing Ceraeochrysa cubana Hagen [DOI]
  40. 40 Integration of Repellents, Attractants, and Insecticides in a "Push-Pull" Strategy for Managing German Cockroach (Dictyoptera: Blattellidae) Populations [DOI]
  41. 41 Intercropping With Aromatic Plants Decreases Herbivore Abundance, Species Richness, and Shifts Arthropod Community Trophic Structure [DOI]
  42. 42 Pesticide Consumption in Agriculture in India - an Update
  43. 43 Push-pull Strategy with Trap Crops, Neem and Nuclear Polyhedrosis Virus for Insecticide Resistance Management in Helicoverpa armigera (Hubner) in Cotton [DOI]
  44. 44 Synthesis of 9-methylgermacrene B, racemate of the sex pheromone of Lutzomyia longipalpis (Lapinha), from the renewable resource, Geranium macrorrhizum essential oil [DOI]
  45. 45 The Use of Olfactory and Visual Cues in Host Choice by the Capsid Bugs Lygus rugulipennis Poppius and Liocoris tripustulatus Fabricius [DOI]
  46. 46 Evaluating Alfalfa Cutting As a Potential Measure to Enhance Predator Abundance of Aphis gossypii(Homoptera: Aphididae) in Cotton-alfalfa Intercropping System
  47. 47 Health status of spring barley grown in monocrop and in mixtures with cereals or leguminous plants
  48. 48 Environmental science and pollution research [DOI]
  49. 49 The Importance of Multiple Cropping in Increasing World Food Supplies [DOI]
  50. 50 Eavesdropping on Plant–Insect–Microbe Chemical Communications in Agricultural Ecology: A Virtual Issue on Semiochemicals [DOI]
  51. 51 Local applications but global implications: Can pesticides drive microorganisms to develop antimicrobial resistance? [DOI]
  52. 52 Integrated Farming System: A Tool for Doubling Farmer’s Income [DOI]
  53. 53 Intercrops can mitigate pollen-mediated gene flow from transgenic cotton while simultaneously reducing pest densities [DOI]
  54. 54 Zero Budget Natural Farming: A way Forward towards Sustainable Agriculture [DOI]
  55. 55 Biostimulants towards Soil Health Improvement: A Review [DOI]
  56. 56 Current Journal of Applied Science and Technology [DOI]
  57. 57 Journal of Experimental Agriculture International [DOI]
  58. 58 ASIAN JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE [DOI]

Cited by 66

Bats over rice: Assessing the contribution of insectivorous bats to pest suppression in Mexican rice fields

Cárol Sierra-Durán, Ángel Torres-Alcántara, Adrià López-Baucells · Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment · 2025

MANAGEMENT OF WHITEFLY (Bemisia tabaci) IN BRINJAL THROUGH INTERCROPPING

Mohammad Abdul Mannan, Khursheda Akter, Monira Yasmin · Journal of Agriculture and Plant Sciences · 2025

Variations in the relative abundance of hemipteran species in different seasons and stages of rice growth depending on weather variations

Faıruz Khalıd, Noor Shuhaına Shaıkh Mazran, Ismaıl Rakıbe · Tarım Bilimleri Dergisi · 2024

Role of traditional ecological knowledge in shaping climate resilient villages in the Himalaya

Bhawna Negi, Vikram S. Negi, Suresh K. Rana · Journal of Environmental Management · 2025

LANDSCAPE ENGINEERING: HUMAN-MEDIATED ALTERATIONS OF CROP ECOSYSTEMS FOR ECO-FRIENDLY PEST MANAGEMENT

Department of Agriculture, Brainware University, Barasat-700125, West Bengal, India, Soumik Dey Roy, Ajoy Kumar Mukhopadhyay · Tropical Agroecosystems · 2025

Showing 16 of 66 known citations — external sources report more than can currently be individually listed.

Article metrics

Real usage data collected on this platform.

127

Page views

0

PDF downloads

42

Outbound clicks

66

Citations

Views over time

Views by country

Approximate, from request IP at view time — not citizenship or institution. Countries with fewer than 5 views are grouped as "Other".

Traffic sources

Referring site, by host.

Views and downloads exclude known bots/crawlers. Citations combines this platform's own DOI-resolved index with each external source's own reported total — see Cited by above for individually listed citing works. Last refreshed 0 seconds ago.