摘要
Insect pests are one of the major causes of crop loss worldwide.Currently,synthetic pesticides are widely used to control pests in agricultural fields,but their overuse often causes serious environmental problems and threatens human health.Different from pesticides,some environmental-friendly chemical elicitors(also known as plant strengtheners),such as benzothiadiazole and jasmonates,although unable to directly kill insects,can induce or enhance plant resistance to pests,emerging as promising substitutes for pesticides.However,most of the reported chemical elicitors can reduce plant growth through hormonal crosstalk,which is undesirable for achieving high yield in crops,thereby limiting their use in agricultural practices.In a recent study,Yonggen Lou's group at Zhejiang University in China reported the identification of a new plant strengthener,4-fluorophenoxyacetic acid(4-FPA),which can not only enhance plant resistance to piercing-sucking insects but also increase crop yields in the field(Wang et al.,2020).
