Food digestion capability and digestive enzyme activity in female adults of the wing‐dimorphic cricket Velarifictorus ornatus

Abstract

AbstractVelarifictorus ornatus (Shiraki) (Orthoptera: Gryllidae) display distinct wing variation, and a physiological trade‐off between reproduction and flight muscles has been observed in long‐winged (LW) and short‐winged (SW) females. To understand the physiological basis of this trade‐off, we investigated the difference in the food digestion capability and digestive enzyme activity between LW and SW females. We found that the efficiency of conversion of digested food into body matter of SW females was significantly higher than that of the LW females, although there was no difference in the approximate digestibility between LW and SW females during the first 12 days after the adult emergence. Similarly, growth and relative growth were significantly higher in SW females. The food consumption of SW females was significantly higher than that of the LW females only in the first 6 days after the adult emergence, suggesting enhanced ovary development in SW females is probably because of the elevated efficiency of conversion of digested food into body matter coupled with greater consumption in the early stage after the adult emergence. Trypsin‐like activity was higher in SW females than in LW females, whereas no differences in the fresh weight of the midguts (including content) were observed between LW and SW females at 1, 3, or 5 h after refeeding after starvation for 18 h. In contrast, amylase activity varied significantly depending on time lapse after refeeding, being significantly higher in LW females than in SW females at 1 h after refeeding, but significantly lower in LW females than in SW females at 3 and 5 h after refeeding. The lipase activity displayed a similar trend in both LW and SW females after refeeding, with an initial decline followed by a slight increase; and no difference was observed between LW and SW females at any stage after refeeding.