Abstract
Plant chemical composition is an important determinant of host plant-insect interactions. For many insects sugars are the main factors determining the acceptability of a plant. This study investigated changes in plant chemical composition and differences in sugar composition of different host plants induced by the feeding of Coccus hesperidum L. (Hemiptera: Sternorrhyncha: Coccoidea). Present in plant extracts and honeydew there were three monosaccharide sugars: glucose, fructose and arabinose, and one disaccharide - sucrose. Arabinose was only found in extracts of Ficus benjamina plants. The sugar content of the honeydew was greater than in the extracts of control plants and lower than that in the extracts of infested plants. The honeydew collected from C. hesperidum feeding on the three plant species differed significantly in sugar content. Extracts of coccid infested plants of the three species used in this study contained more sugar than the un-infested control plants. The results show that honeydew composition of scale insects differ and the differences reflect the chemical composition of the host plants.
Highlights
Plant chemical composition is a crucial determinant of host plant-insect interactions
Different species of aphids sharing the same host are likely to utilize the same phloem sap and differences in sugar composition of the honeydew may result from differences in the metabolism of the insects, which results in differences in the quality and quantity of honeydew sugars (Völkl et al, 1999; Fischer & Shingleton, 2001; Wool et al, 2006)
The highest total sugar content was recorded in the honeydew excreted by C. hesperidum feeding on F. benjamina and the lowest when feeding on C. limon
Summary
Plant chemical composition is a crucial determinant of host plant-insect interactions. Sugars are one of the main factors determining the acceptability of a plant as food for insects. They are a major nutrient and essential feeding stimulants for many insect species (Harborne, 1997; Oleszek et al, 2001, Sempruch, 2010). On the basis of the sugar content of plants and the honeydew excreted it is possible to select species or varieties of plants resistant to harmful scale insects. C. hesperidum is the most common and harmful scale insect infesting greenhouse ornamental plants, little is known about the composition of the honeydew excreted by this species (Bogo & Mantle, 2000). Qualitative and quantitative analyses were carried out on extracts of uninfested plants, infested plants and the honeydew excreted by C. hesperidum feeding on the host plants studied
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