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Performance of specialist and generalist herbivores feeding on cabbage cultivars is not explained by glucosinolate profiles
Author(s) -
Poelman Erik H.,
Galiart Ron J. F. H.,
Raaijmakers Ciska E.,
Van Loon Joop J. A.,
Van Dam Nicole M.
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
entomologia experimentalis et applicata
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.765
H-Index - 83
eISSN - 1570-7458
pISSN - 0013-8703
DOI - 10.1111/j.1570-7458.2008.00700.x
Subject(s) - pieris rapae , generalist and specialist species , biology , brassica oleracea , pieridae , plutella , herbivore , glucosinolate , brevicoryne brassicae , botany , cultivar , pieris brassicae , lepidoptera genitalia , brassica , canola , brassicaceae , horticulture , pest analysis , ecology , aphididae , homoptera , habitat
Plants display a wide range of chemical defences that may differ in effectiveness against generalist and specialist insect herbivores. Host plant‐specific secondary chemicals such as glucosinolates (GS) in Brassicaceae typically reduce the performance of generalist herbivores, whereas specialists have adaptations to detoxify these compounds. The concentration of glucosinolates may also alter upon herbivory, allowing the plant to tailor its response to specifically affect the performance of the attacking herbivore. We studied the performance of three Lepidoptera species, two specialists [ Pieris rapae L. (Pieridae), Plutella xylostella L. (Yponomeutidae)] and one generalist [ Mamestra brassicae L. (Noctuidae)], when feeding on eight cultivars of Brassica oleracea L. and a native congener ( Brassica nigra L.) and related this to the GS content. We tested the hypotheses (i) that a generalist herbivore is more affected by high GS concentrations, and (ii) that generalist feeding has a stronger effect on GS levels. Although performance of the three herbivores was different on the B. oleracea cultivars, M. brassicae and P. xylostella had a similar ranking order of performance on the eight cultivars. In most of the cultivars, the concentration of indole GS was significantly higher after feeding by P. rapae or M. brassicae than after P. xylostella feeding. As a consequence, the total concentration of GS in the cultivars showed a different ranking order for each herbivore species. The generalist M. brassicae performed equally well as the specialist P. xylostella on cultivars with high concentrations of GS. Our findings suggest that secondary metabolites other than GSs or differences in nutrient levels affect performance of the species studied.