Compensatory responses of Samea multiplicalis larvae when fed leaves of different fertilization levels of the aquatic weed Pistia stratiotes

Compensatory responses of caterpillars fed low quality food include increased consumption and utilization of essential nutrients. Information about an insect's responses to nutritional challenges from their host plants could benefit weed biological control efforts in the selection and establishment of new agents. The target weed, Pistia stratiotes L. (Araceae) is a floating aquatic plant that has relatively low nitrogen levels which are further diluted with high water content. Efforts to establish the insect Spodoptera pectinicornis (Hampson) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) for biological control of P. stratiotes could benefit by examining the nutritional responses of a similar widely established lepidopteran species, Samea multiplicalis (Guenee) (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae). Larvae of this species were fed leaves of P. stratiotes plants that had been fertilized (NPK) at high and low rates. The leaves of the fertilized plants had a 4.3-fold increase in nitrogen (dry weight) and a 1.6-fold increase in water content. The results suggest that no compensatory increases occurred in larvae fed leaves from the low fertilized plants as no changes were found in fresh mass consumption or nitrogen utilization efficiency. Consequently, development time from second-third instars to pupation was delayed about 3 days compared with larvae fed the high nitrogen leaves. Furthermore, consumption of nitrogen was only 30% and its accumulation into larval tissues was only 60% compared with the larvae fed the high fertilized leaves. The resulting larvae had both a final biomass and a growth rate that were reduced by 40%. Regardless of plant fertilizer level, the larvae fed at a rate 5-10 times greater than that of similar lepidopteran species consuming either low or high quality diets, suggesting that the S. multiplicalis larvae may be functioning at their biological limit for ingesting food.