Impact of Plant Phenolics as Semiochemicals on the Performance of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Trichogramma chilonis</Emphasis> Ishii

Phenolic compounds play a major role in the plant defense mechanisms and often offer protection from the feeding herbivore. They also constitute a major chemical component of many agriculturally important crops. We examined the effects of 23 common phenolic acids on the orientation and ovipositional behavior of the egg parasitoid, Trichogramma chilonis Ishii (Hymenoptera: Trichogrammatidae). The study was conducted in order to investigate the function of these compounds in the plant indirect defense. Parasitoids attractions towards the phenolics that are volatile in nature were observed by using culture tube bioassays. In addition in the Y- tube olfactometer experiments, T. chilonis were shown to be attracted towards the treatments of syringic, pyrocatechol, coumaric and quercetin at minimum dose of 10 μg and genistein, chlorogenic, vanillic, chlorobenzoic, sinapic, ellagic, protocatechuic, keampferol, tannic, caffeic, and luteolin at 30 μg and ferulic, epicatechin and gallic acid at 50 μg doses. Further experiments to examine the effect of phenolic compounds on parasitization by T. chilonis females were carried out using petri dish and artificial plant models. Among the tested compounds, syringic acid and quercetin recorded the highest percentage parasitization followed by coumaric acid and pyrocatechol. These results might imply that parasitoid attractant phenolic compounds when induced in engineered plants can further be used as cues by the egg parasitoids with potential application in biocontrol strategies.