The effect of ozone on feeding and growth of the Mexican bean beetle larvae
1990
Wu Yar (Jiangsu Provincial Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Nanjing (China). Inst. of Plant Protection)
Experiments were carried out with larvae of Mexican bean beetle (Epilachna varivestis Mulsant) and their food plants grown in air polluted with ozone to test the effect of ozone on the insects as well as on the plants. The results showed that the larvae preferred the ozone-polluted plants to the unpolluted ones. Therefore, the effect of ozone on the insects seemed to be indirect. The pupal weights of the male and female larvae feeding on the ozone-polluted plants were significantly heavier than that of the controls. According to the results of feeding preference experiments and the determination of soluble sugars and starch of foliage of the soybean plants from open-topped fumigation fields, significant differences appeared when compared with the controls. The change of sugar content in foliage was seen to correlate with the chlorophyll content; and the larvae consumed more foliage with high sugar content. It is concluded that ozone at lower concentration in the air would increase the content of soluble sugar and in turn promote food ingestion of the larvae feeding on them
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