The "push" in the intercropping scheme is provided by the plants that emit volatile chemicals (kairomones) which repel stemborer moths and drive them away from the main crop (maize or sorghum). The most commonly used species of push plants are legumes of the genus Desmodium (e.g. silverleaf Desmodium, D. uncinatum, and greenleaf Desmodium, D. intortum). The Desmodium is planted in between the rows of maize or sorghum, where they emit volatile chemicals (such as (E)-β-ocimene and (E)-4,8-dimethyl-1,3,7-nonatriene) that repel the stemborer moths. These semiochemicals are also produced in grasses such as maize when they are damaged by insect herbivores, which may explain why they are repellent to stemborers. Being a low-growing plant, Desmodium does not interfere with the growth of crops, but can suppress weeds and help improve soil quality by increasing soil organic matter content, fixing nitrogen, and stabilizing soils from erosion. It also serves as a highly nutritious animal feed and effectively suppresses striga weeds through an allelopathic mechanism. Another plant showing good repellent properties is molasses grass (Melinis minutiflora), a nutritious animal feed with tick-repelling and stemborer larval parasitoid attractive properties.