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A team of entomologists and botanists at the International Center of Insect ÌÇÐÄÊÓƵiology and Ecology in Nairobi and the University of Pretoria has found that adding silicon to soil can help tomato plants fight off the destructive South American tomato pinworm. The study is in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The South American tomato pinworm is the larva of Tuta absoluta, a species of moth. Over the past several decades, the moth has migrated to North America, Europe and Africa, and in the process, its larvae have become a major pest, responsible for destroying billions of dollars' worth of crops every year. The pests have become resistant to most of the chemicals developed to kill them, and efforts have arisen around the globe to find an effective solution. In this new effort, the research team tested the possibility of adding silicon to the soil.

Botanists have long known that adding silicon to soil can help some plants resist certain pests. That led the researchers on this new effort to test whether the chemical element might help tomatoes fight off pinworms. They added different amounts of silicon to soil samples used to grow tomato plants and exposed them to moths.

The researchers found that adding silicon to the soil caused the plants to produce a dark goo at the base of the tiny hairs on their stems. They then found that the moths appeared to prefer laying their eggs on the goo rather than the leaves of the plant.

When the pinworms hatched, they consumed the goo, which lacked adequate nutrients to keep them alive, and they died of starvation. They also found that the goo caused changes to the microbiome of the pinworms, leading to changes in their excrement that emitted gases attracting insects that feed on pinworms.

The research team acknowledges that their work is just an initial step in using silicon to protect tomato plants and hope further testing will confirm its effectiveness.

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