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Momordica cochinchinensis (Cucurbitaceae) leaf volatiles: semiochemicals for host location by the insect pest, Aulacophora foveicollis (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae)

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Abstract

Aulacophora foveicollis Lucas (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) and Epilachna dodecastigma (Wied.) (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) are important herbivore pests of Momordica cochinchinensis Spreng (Cucurbitaceae).The volatile organic compound (VOC) profile from undamaged and mechanically damaged plants, and from plants 24 h and 120 h following continuous feeding of adult female A. foveicollis and E. dodecastigma, was identified and quantified by GC-MS and GC-FID analyses. Twenty-two compounds were identified in volatiles of undamaged plants and in 24-h and 120-h post-insect-feeding plant volatiles; whereas 21 components were detected in volatiles of mechanically damaged plants. With the exception of four compounds, 1-heptanol, 3-octanone, acetophenone and nerolidol, the emissions of all other compounds were significantly increased following insect attack. In all plants, phytol was predominant, followed by geranyl linalool and linalool. Only 2-hexanol was unique to mechanically damaged plants, and 1-octen-3-ol and farnesyl acetone were detected in volatiles of undamaged and insect-damaged plants, but not in volatiles of mechanically damaged plants. However, none of these volatile components, when tested individually, showed attraction to A. foveicollis in Y-shaped glass tube olfactometer bioassays. Aulacophora foveicollis elicited significant preference for the whole volatile blends from insect-damaged plants compared to those of undamaged plants, and volatiles from 120-h post-E. dodecastigma feeding plants were more attractive to A. foveicollis compared to those from conspecifically damaged plants. Furthermore, the finding that A. foveicollis responds to individual synthetic compounds, 1-heptanol, 3-octanol, linalool oxide, 1-octanol, nonanal, geranyl linalool and phytol, and provide a basis for new inventions on trapping tools for pest management strategies.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Dr. Kerstin Reifenrath and anonymous reviewer(s) for many helpful comments on earlier versions of the manuscript. We are thankful to Dr. Poorani Janakiraman, National Bureau of Agriculturally Important Insects (formerly PDBC), Karnataka, India for identifying insects. The financial assistance from the University Grants Commission (UGC), India as a Senior Research Fellowship to Abhishek Mukherjee, DST–PURSE and DRS SAP for providing necessary instrumental facilities are gratefully acknowledged.

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

    Abhishek Mukherjee, Nupur Sarkar & Anandamay Barik

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  1. Abhishek Mukherjee
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  2. Nupur Sarkar
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  3. Anandamay Barik
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Correspondence to Anandamay Barik.

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Handling Editor: Kerstin Reifenrath.

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Mukherjee, A., Sarkar, N. & Barik, A. Momordica cochinchinensis (Cucurbitaceae) leaf volatiles: semiochemicals for host location by the insect pest, Aulacophora foveicollis (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae). Chemoecology 25, 93–104 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00049-014-0179-9

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