Intercropping Empower Reduces Insect Pests and Increases Biodiversity in Agro-Ecosystem

Currently insect pest management solely depends on chemical pesticide thatcontinuously affects on environment, biodiversity, animal as well as humanhealth. Outbreak of secondary insect pest is also the cost of pesticide use infield leading crop more vulnerable to more pests. These negative impacts ofpesticides have provoked growing interest in the adoption of multi-functionagricultural biodiversity that promote pest management, creating interestingchallenge for traditional approaches to regulatory compliance. To addressmulti-function agricultural practice, we tested several intercropping systemswith mustard and their effect on pest management. Our results revealed thatintercropping systems mustard with onion, garlic, radhuni and coriander significantlyreduced pest population over sole crop. However, intercroppingmustard with wheat and gram increased pest population in mustard field.This result indicated that all crops are not suitable for intercropping system.Among the tested intercropping systems, mustard with onion and coriandersignificantly reduced branch and flower infestation and increased pod formationper plant. These four intercropping systems did not significantly affect onhoneybee pollinator which are crucial for mustard crop yield. A significant linearrelationship was also found between honeybee population and pod formation.Our results indicate that suitable intercropping system can be a potentialmulti-functional agricultural practice for pest management in mustardcrop.