Smelly grasses can prevent caterpillars eating cereal crops. By planting
molasses grass (Melinis minutiflora), adjacent to sorghum and maize in
Kenya, John Pickett and his colleagues from the Institute of Arable Crops
Research in Rothamsted, Hertfordshire, have cut crop losses from 80 to 5 per
cent (Nature, vol 388, p 631). The grass repels female butterflies and
moths which lay eggs on cereals, so keeping the crops free of caterpillars. “The
grass actually smells rather nice,” says Pickett.
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