Environmentally acquired chemical camouflage is a phenomenon, where a plant growing close to a strong volatile organic compound (VOC) emitter will adsorb and re-emit the VOCs produced by the neighbouring plant. The re-emitted volatile bouquet may resemble more the VOC composition of the neighbour than plant’s own typical odour, and thus act as chemical camouflage against insect detection, potentially simultaneously providing associational resistance towards herbivory. We exposed a pest-sensitive horticultural crop, Brassica oleracea var. italica (broccoli) cv. Lucky, to the volatiles emitted by Rhododendron tomentosum [RT] twigs and assessed the host selection by ovipositing females and larval instars of the major caterpillar pest Pieris brassicae between RT-exposed and control plants. Potential impact of RT exposure on herbivore natural enemies was studied using behavioural tests with a parasitoid wasp Cotesia glomerata. P. brassicae females laid significantly less eggs and egg clusters were fewer on RT-exposed plants at both night-time (6 °C) and daytime (22 °C) temperatures. Larvae preferred leaves from control plants over RT-exposed plants at both temperatures. Preceding RT-exposure did not disturb orientation of parasitoid wasp Cotesia glomerata females towards B. oleracea plants damaged by its host P. brassicae. However, host-damaged control plants were favoured by the parasitoid over RT-exposed, host-damaged plants. Our results suggest that companion plant based chemical camouflage as a mechanism of pest suppression could be developed as an additional tool for the integrated pest management toolbox in agriculture.

在环境中获得化学伪装是一种现象，在这种情况下，生长在靠近强挥发性有机化合物（VOC）排放源的工厂将吸收并重新排放附近工厂产生的VOC。重新散发的挥发性花束可能比植物自身典型的气味更像邻居的VOC成分，因此可作为化学伪装来抵御昆虫的发现，并可能同时提供对草食动物的抵抗力。我们暴露了对害虫敏感的园艺作物芸苔。italica（花椰菜）cv。幸运，杜鹃花（RT）树枝释放出的挥发物，并通过对主要毛毛虫害虫的雌性和幼虫产卵进行评估，评估了寄主的选择暴露于高温的植物和对照植物之间的紫菜。RT暴露对食草动物天敌的潜在影响是用行为试验对寄生黄蜂Cotesia glomerata进行了研究。在夜间（6°C）和白天（22°C）温度下，暴露于RT的植物中，芸苔假单胞菌雌性产卵明显减少，卵簇减少。在这两个温度下，幼虫都比对照植物暴露于RT的植物更喜欢叶片。先前的RT暴露不会干扰寄生性黄蜂Cotesia glomerata雌性朝向由其寄主P. brasicae破坏的油菜B. oleracea植物的方向。。但是，寄生虫比寄主损坏的对照植物更喜欢RT暴露的寄主损坏的植物。我们的结果表明，可以将基于伴侣植物的化学伪装作为有害生物抑制机制，可以开发为农业综合有害生物管理工具箱的附加工具。