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Differences among five amaranth varieties (Amaranthus spp.) regarding secondary metabolites and foliar herbivory by chewing insects in the field

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An Erratum to this article was published on 01 January 2013

Abstract

In this study, we determined the abundance of secondary metabolites present in leaves of five varieties of Amaranthus, described the community of chewing insects observed in the foliage and also quantified damage by folivore insects in the field. Three flavonoid glucosides (rutin, nicotiflorin and isoquercitin), nine phenolic compounds (coumaric, vanillic, caffeic, syringic, ferulic, sinapic, protocatechuic, salicylic and 4-hydroxybenzoic acid) and three betalains (amaranthine, iso-amaranthine and betanin) were found to be present in amaranth leaves. Flavonoids appeared in of all varieties analyzed, with rutin being the most important. Betalains occurred only in some varieties and at different proportions, and nine phenolic acids were observed in all the varieties, with the exception of sinapic acid. Significant differences in the chemical composition of the varieties were noted. A total of 17 species of chewing phytophagous insects were observed through visual counting in Amaranthus plants, with the order Coleoptera being the most important and having the highest diversity of species. The degree of herbivory differed significantly among the varieties. Multivariate regression analysis indicated that the eight analyzed compounds detected in the plants had significant linear relationships with herbivory in the field. However, to draw any conclusions relating the amount of any compound to the degree of herbivory damage is premature at this stage of the research.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank Professor Charles O’Brien for assistance with the identification of the Conotrachelus species, Graciela Vergara for the climatic data provided, Elke Noellemeyer who facilitated various aspects of this research and Dr. Paul Hobson, native speaker, for the revision of the manuscript. Also, we thank two anonymous reviewers for their valuable suggestions. This work was supported by the project: Amaranth Future-Food, European Commission Programme “International Cooperation Activities” FP6-2004-INCO-DEV-3 Contract No 032 263. A.S belongs to CONICET.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Facultad de Agronomía, Universidad Nacional de La Pampa, Ruta 35 Km 334, Santa Rosa, 3300, La Pampa, Argentina

    Selene L. Niveyro

  2. Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, Department of Integrated Pest Management Research Centre, Flakkebjerg, Aarhus University Forsøgsvej, 1, 4200, Slagelse, Denmark

    Anne G. Mortensen & Inge S. Fomsgaard

  3. Centro de Investigaciones Entomológicas de Córdoba, IMBIV/CONICET, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Físicas y Naturales, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Vélez Sarsfield 1611, Córdoba, Argentina

    Adriana Salvo

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  1. Selene L. Niveyro
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  2. Anne G. Mortensen
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  3. Inge S. Fomsgaard
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  4. Adriana Salvo
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Correspondence to Selene L. Niveyro.

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Niveyro, S.L., Mortensen, A.G., Fomsgaard, I.S. et al. Differences among five amaranth varieties (Amaranthus spp.) regarding secondary metabolites and foliar herbivory by chewing insects in the field. Arthropod-Plant Interactions 7, 235–245 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11829-012-9219-y

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