Abstract
The effects of elevated CO2 (E-CO2) on maize and Asian corn borer (ACB), Ostrinia furnacalis, in open-top chambers were studied. The plants were infested with ACB and exposed to ambient and elevated (550 and 750 μl/l) CO2. E-CO2 increased the plant height and kernel number per ear. The plants had lower nitrogen contents and higher TNC: N ratios under E-CO2 than at ambient CO2. The response of plant height to E-CO2 was significantly dampened in plants with ACB infestation. However, the weight gain of the survivors declined in plants grown under E-CO2. Moreover, the plant damage caused by ACB was not different among the treatments. Overwintering larvae developed under E-CO2 had a lower supercooling point than those developed under ambient CO2. The results indicated that there was a positive effect of E-CO2 on the accumulation of maize biomass, i.e., the “air-fertilizer” effect, which led to a nutritional deficiency in the plants. The fitness-related parameters of ACB were adversely affected by the CO2-mediated decreased in plant nutritional quality, and ACB might alter its food consumption to compensate for these changes. Larval damage to maize under E-CO2 appears to be offset by this “air-fertilizer” effect, with reductions in larval fitness.
Highlights
E-CO2 exhibited increased concentrations of quercet in the glycosides[11]
Compared with the maize plants grown under ambient CO2, the N content significantly decreased by 8.0% and 17.0% for leaves and stalks, respectively, in maize plant grown under 750 μ l/l CO2 (Table 1)
The effects of E-CO2 on maize plants have been assessed in a number of places with variable conditions
Summary
The plant response induced by the feeding of insect herbivores may be weaker, when grown are grown under E-CO212. The herbivore-induced response of plants may vary in different growth environments[13]. The cold hardiness of an insect species is measured by its supercooling point (SCP), which influences the density of the overwintering population[29]. The SCP is influenced by various factors, including the host plant species and nutritional quality and the contents of water and of the cryoprotective substances in the larval body[30,31,32,33]. An understanding of the effects of E-CO2 on the SCP could provide direct evidence for the cold hardiness of the overwintering ACB populations in environments with future climate change
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