Trap cropping as a delivery platform for RNAi-based targeted control of the pollen beetle Brassicogethes aeneus

Pest management techniques based on RNA-interference methods are rapidly evolving. Two basic approaches can be used to deliver the dsRNA to the target insect for ingestion: modified crop plants producing the dsRNA (transgenic approach), or feeding the target with bacterial-produced dsRNA with the food such as pollen. Here we suggest that the most feasible way forward in using RNAi-techniques to control the pollen beetle Brassicogethes aeneus might be to use trap crops treated with bacterial dsRNA as the ideal delivery technique.