International Journal of Horticulture 2015, Vol.5, No.4, 1
-
11
1
Research Article Open Access
Host phytochemicals in regulation of nutritional ecology and population dynamics
of
Podontia quatuordecimpunctata
L. (Coleoptera :Chrysomelidae)
Roy, N.
M. U. C. Women’s College, Department of Zoology, Ecology Research Unit, Burdwan-713104, West Bengal, India
Corresponding author email
International Journal of Horticulture, 2015, Vol.5, No.4 doi: 10.5376/ijh.2015.05.0004
Received: 18 Feb., 2015
Accepted: 03 Mar., 2015
Published: 12 Mar., 2015
Copyright
© 2015 Roy, This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use,
distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Preferred citation for this article
:
Roy, 2015, Host phytochemicals in regulation of nutritional ecology and population dynamics of
Podontia quatuordecimpunctata
L.
(Coleoptera :Chrysomelidae), International Journal of Horticulture, 2015, Vol.5, No.4 1-11 (doi
Abstract
Determination of
host preference depends on chemical cues including nutritional requirements is a cornerstone in insect
pest ecology and their control. Their nutritional ecology and demographic parameters are co-related with the variation of host
phytochemical regime. Here, the host preference in relation to feeding dynamics and life table parameters of
Podontia
quatuordecimpunctata
L. were studied under laboratory conditions. The feeding indices and population parameters of
P.
quatuordecimpunctata
were significantly higher (
P
< 0.05) on
Spondias pinnata
relative to
S. dulcis
(Anacardiaceae) due to the
variation in their phytochemical regime of the respective host plants. The pest on
S. pinnata
has shorter mean generation time (T
c
) of
143.333±0.265 days with higher net reproductive rate (R
0
) of 31.160±2.553. Their generation survival (GS) on
S. pinnata
(0.663) is
significantly higher than
S. dulcis
(0.513) with reverse of total generation mortality (K). Thus, the pest
showed more feeding
preference and higher reproductive growth to its host plant,
S. pinnata
than
S. dulcis
. This research supports the previous studies on
insect nutrition in relation to their host phytochemicals and support to find the most vulnerable stage of this pest for appropriate
control measures. It also provides the importance of
S. pinnata
as a trapping plant to avoid or minimum invasion of this pest towards
S. dulcis
for their better yields.
Keywords
Host preference; Nutritional ecology; Demographic parameters; Feeding dynamics; Phytochemical regime; Ttrapping plant
Background
The hog-plum,
Spondias dulcis
and
S. pinnata
(Anacardiaceae) are popularly used for fruits in
different parts of India including west Bengal, Assam,
MP, UP, Punjab, Maharastra, etc. (Verheij and Coronel,
1991). The hog-plum,
S. pinnata
is a wild form of
S.
dulcis
and both cultivated from the Himalayas of
northern India to the Andaman Islands and also
cultivated throughout Southeast Asia and Malaysia.
The fruit of
S. pinnata
is smaller than the
S. dulcis
and
inferior in quality but has the same uses. Different
parts of the plants have several ethnopharmacological
uses due to presence of different phytochemical
constituents for nutritional, clinical and veterinary
relevance in different parts of the world (Das et al., 2011).
The leaf beetle,
Podontia quatuordecimpunctata
L.
(Coleoptera:Chrysomelidae) is the best-known
Podontia
species of Blepharida-group because both
adults and larvae severely defoliate the whole
hog-plum plants (Pramanik and Basu, 1973; Deka and
Kalita, 2002a). It was first reported by Bateman from
Kolkata in 1895 (Stebbing, 1914) and further it was
reported to occur in India (West Bengal, Assam,
Sikkim, Meghalaya, Uttar Pradesh, and Andaman
Islands), Mayanmar, Bangladesh and Malayasia
(Stebbing, 1914; Deka and Kalita, 2002b ). Beside the
two host plants they occationally attack
Ficus elastic
and
Duabanga grandiflora
(Singh and Misra, 1989;
Baksha, 1997). The beetle is univoltine and both the
larvae and the adults act as defoliator of hog-plum
(Beeson, 1941). Generally they prefer the tender
leaves but during severe infestation they consume the
mature leaves, tender parts of stems, and even green
barks of the plant (Howlader, 1993; Deka and Kalita,
2002c). They appear during July to September and
disappear in October or November having peak
infestation period during August to September
(Beeson, 1941; Baksha, 1997; Deka and Kalita,
2002d). During this period complete defoliation
caused stunting growth of the tree and leads to the
reduction of fruiting, fruit size and yield. Still there is
no suitable control measure against this insect
defoliator except some non-specific insecticide to
reduce their population. There are several reports
regarding their taxonomy and life cycle (Corbett and
Yusope, 1921; Pramanik and Basu, 1973; Husain and
