| Institution: | 1. State Key Laboratory of Rice Biology, Ministry of Agriculture Key Lab of Molecular Biology of Crop Pathogens and Insects, Institute of Insect Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China;2. Key Laboratory of State Forestry Administration on Bamboo Resources and Utilization, China National Bamboo Research Center, Hangzhou, China;3. State Key Laboratory of Rice Biology, Ministry of Agriculture Key Lab of Molecular Biology of Crop Pathogens and Insects, Institute of Insect Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
Department of Botany, Government College University, Faisalabad, Pakistan;4. Key Laboratory for Quality Improvement of Agriculture Products of Zhejiang Province, Department of Plant Protection, Zhejiang A&F University, Lin'an, China |
| Abstract: | When attacked by herbivores, plants emit volatiles to attract parasitoids and predators of herbivores. However, our understanding of the effect of plant volatiles on the subsequent behaviour of conspecific parasitoids when herbivores on plants are parasitized is limited. In this study, rice plants were infested with gravid females of the brown planthopper (BPH) Nilaparvata lugens for 24 hr followed by another 24 hr in which the BPH eggs on plants were permitted to be parasitized by their egg parasitoid, Anagrus nilaparvatae; volatiles from rice plants that underwent such treatment were less attractive to subsequent conspecific parasitoids compared to the volatiles from plants infested with gravid BPH females alone. Chemical analysis revealed that levels of JA and JA-Ile as well as of four volatile compounds—linalool, MeSA, α-zingiberene and an unknown compound—from plants infested with BPH and parasitized by wasps were significantly higher than levels of these compounds from BPH-infested plants. Laboratory and field bioassays revealed that one of the four increased chemicals—α-zingiberene—reduced the plant's attractiveness to the parasitoid. These results suggest that host plants can fine-tune their volatiles to help egg parasitoids distinguish host habitats with parasitized hosts from those without. |
