The effect of methyl jasmonate acid on tomato seedling and subsequently on Spodoptera litura

• Main Authors: Guan-Hua Pung, 彭冠華
• Other Authors: 黃紹毅
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2014
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/31296260917038890523

碩士 === 國立中興大學 === 昆蟲學系所 === 103 === To protect themselves, plant may response to insect’s damage through two kinds of defensive mechanisms (constitutive and inducible). Inducible defense appear just after plants were attacked by herbivores through the methyl jasmonic acid (MeJA) systematic action. Previous studies indicated that application of MeJA on plant leaves or the direct insect damage may cause plant’s production of some defense-related substances, such as polyphenol oxidase (PPO) and trypsin inhibitor (TI) which may against insect’s attack. Many research have been conducted to evaluate the effects of sparying MeJA on plant leaf on plants and subsequently on insect herbivores; but only limited studies have been conducted to investigate the effects of MeJA on seeds’ germination and the prime effects against insect herbivores. In this study, tomato seeds were soaked in MeJA of different concentrations and different soaking time. Then, the plant’s defensive proteins, tomato’s performance and short- term growth performance of Spodoptera litura were measured. Results showed that PPO increased by treated with MeJA for 1 hour, while treated with MeJA for 1 day could decerase PPO and TI content. High MeJA concentration could decrease tomato seed germination ration and caused bad larval performance, especially in long time treatment. In summary, we found MeJA could decrease larval performance and tomato’s growth performance. Since this experiment was only tested for seedlings in greenhouse, more studies are needed for the practical use of this idea in the field.