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Fruit Volatiles of Creeping Cucumber (Solena amplexicaulis) Attract a Generalist Insect Herbivore

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Abstract

Herbivorous insects employ host plant volatile blends as cue for host recognition. Adults of Aulacophora foveicollis Lucas (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) feed on leaves, flowers, and fruits of Solena amplexicaulis (Lam.) Gandhi (syn: Melothria heterophylla) (Cucurbitaceae), commonly known as creeping cucumber. Currently, this pest is controlled by insecticides application. Hence, it is necessary to find out volatile components from fruits attracting the insect, which might be used for eco-friendly pest management program. behavioral responses of females were measured by Y-tube olfactometer bioassays towards volatile blends from undamaged (UD), insect-damaged (ID), and mechanically damaged (MD) fruits with the aim to identify the compounds responsible for host fruit location. Volatile organic compounds were identified and quantified by GC-MS and GC-FID analyses, respectively. Nonanal was predominant in volatile blends of UD, ID, and MD fruits. 1-Octen-3-ol, 3-octanone, 2-octanol, heptadienal (2E,4E), 1-pentadecanol, and 1-hexadecanol were present in volatile blends of ID and MD fruits, but females did not show response to these six compounds. 1-Octanol and 1-heptadecanol were unique in volatile blends of UD fruits after 4 hr of damage, but females did not show response to these compounds. Females were more attracted to volatile blends from UD fruits after 4 hr of damage in comparison to volatile blends released by UD fruits, due to increased emissions of (E,Z)-2,6-nonadienal and 2E-nonenal. A synthetic blend of 3.35 μg (E,Z)-2,6-nonadienal and 1.72 μg 2E-nonenal dissolved in 25 μl CH2Cl2 could be used for the development of baited traps to control this insect pest in integrated pest management strategies.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank anonymous reviewers for many helpful comments of earlier versions of the manuscript. We thank Dr. Janakiraman Poorani, Principal Scientist, National Research Centre for Banana, Tamilnadu for identifying the insect, and ex-Professor, Dr. Ambarish Mukherjee, Department of Botany, The University of Burdwan for identification of the plant. We also thank DST PURSE Phase-II for providing necessary instrumental facilities.

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  1. Ecology Research Laboratory, Department of Zoology, The University of Burdwan, West Bengal, Burdwan, 713 104, India

    Amarnath Karmakar, Paroma Mitra, Anamika Koner, Swati Das & Anandamay Barik

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  1. Amarnath Karmakar
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  2. Paroma Mitra
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  3. Anamika Koner
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  4. Swati Das
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Contributions

A.M.B. and A.K. designed experiments; and A. Koner, P.M. and S.D. performed bioassays. A.K., A. Koner and P.M. did chemical analyses. A.M.B. and A.K. analysed data. A.K. and P.M. made the Figs. A.M.B. wrote the manuscript. All authors edited the manuscript and approved the final version of the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Anandamay Barik.

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Karmakar, A., Mitra, P., Koner, A. et al. Fruit Volatiles of Creeping Cucumber (Solena amplexicaulis) Attract a Generalist Insect Herbivore. J Chem Ecol 46, 275–287 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10886-020-01154-w

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