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Herbivore species, infestation time, and herbivore density affect induced volatiles in tea plants

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Abstract

In response to insect herbivory, plants emit volatiles that are used by the herbivores’ natural enemies to locate their host or prey. Herbivore attack also enhances tea aroma. Herbivore-induced plant volatiles (HIPVs) vary both quantitatively and qualitatively with infestation duration and herbivore density. Thus, whether HIPVs can reliably communicate the identities of herbivores is of interest. Here, we studied the tea plant volatiles induced by the tea leafhopper (Empoasca vitis, a piercing–sucking insect), the tea geometrid (Ectropis oblique, a chewing insect), and methyl jasmonate (MeJA, a plant hormone). Geometrid feeding induced more complex volatile blends than did leafhopper infestation. The volatiles induced by both herbivores significantly increased in quality and quantity with time during the first 16 h of infestation, after which the profiles of induced volatile blends and the emission of induced compounds varied diurnally. (E)-β-Ocimene displayed a unique rhythm in which emission peaked at night. The amount of HIPVs significantly increased, while their profiles changed little, with herbivore density. Overall, the leafhoppers and geometrids induced significantly different volatiles from tea plants, while the HIPV profiles varied with a circadian rhythm and were similar at different herbivore densities. Our findings also suggest a new method of enhancing tea flavor using exogenously applied plant hormones, because the volatiles induced by leafhoppers and MeJA were similar in general composition.

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Acknowledgments

We express our sincere thanks to Taro Maeda for donating DMNT standard. This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (200930771449), and Science and Technology Department of Zhejiang Province (2009C32052).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Tea Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Science, Hangzhou, 310008, People’s Republic of China

    Xiao-Ming Cai, Xiao-Ling Sun, Wen-Xia Dong, Guo-Chang Wang & Zong-Mao Chen

  2. Ministry of Agriculture Key Lab for Pesticide Residue Detection, Institute of Quality and Standard for Agricultural Products, Zhejiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Hangzhou, 310021, People’s Republic of China

    Xiao-Ming Cai

  3. Henan Institute of Science and Technology, Xinxiang, 453000, People’s Republic of China

    Guo-Chang Wang

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  1. Xiao-Ming Cai
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  2. Xiao-Ling Sun
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  5. Zong-Mao Chen
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Correspondence to Zong-Mao Chen.

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Cai, XM., Sun, XL., Dong, WX. et al. Herbivore species, infestation time, and herbivore density affect induced volatiles in tea plants. Chemoecology 24, 1–14 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00049-013-0141-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00049-013-0141-2

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