New research suggests bringing a strategy wild plants use to fight off pest back to cultivated crops could be an eco-friendly alternative to herbicides.

A team of scientists argued that bringing back natural odors and nectars found in wild that attract pest-eating predators could be possible through breeding programs or even artificial devices, Cell Press reported.

"Wild plants commonly emit natural odors when they are damaged that attract natural enemies of pest insects--even as humans we smell it when our [neighbor] is mowing the lawn - odors can carry very precise information," said co-author Martin Heil of CINVESTAV-Irapuato in Mexico. "Agriculture has bred such defenses out of crops, and since these odors have no negative effects on human consumers, we want to replace what the plant would already be doing."

Many wild plants produce nectar in their leaves that act as food for carnivores such as predatory wasps and ants. The researchers believe these traits no longer exist in agricultural crops because plant breeders and decision makers that cultivated them did not know the difference between helpful carnivorous insects and pests. Since then, modern science has revealed that plants use scents to communicate with other species.

Since theses defenses involve multiple genes, bringing them back would not be easy. A quicker solution could be to plant crops next to other plants that attract carnivores and repel pests. The problem with this strategy is that its sucesss rate is not as high as using an herbicide. Another solution could be to create mechanical dispensers that could release odors that serve the same purpose.

"New regulations and changing consumer demands are gradually improving the prospects for more sustainable agriculture," Heil said. "This provides a ready market if we can give crops back their own immune system, either by breeding, genetic engineering, or replacing the traits artificially."

The findings were published in a recent edition of the journal Trends in Plant Science.