Attractiveness of host volatiles combined with background visual cues to the tea leafhopper, Empoasca vitis

Abstract

The tea green leafhopper, Empoasca vitis (G€ othe) (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae), is a serious pest of tea plants. We examined the behavioral responses of E. vitis adults to odors from the shoots of three host plants in a Y-tube olfactometer with background visual cues. The host plants were tea [Camellia sinensis (L.) Kuntze (Theaceae)], peach [Prunus persica (L.) Siebold & Zucc. (Rosaceae)], and grapevine [Vitis vinifera L. (Vitaceae)]. Volatiles from the shoots were analyzed. Both yellow-green and gold backgrounds enhanced the olfactory responses of E. vitis adults to tea plant odors, and this enhancement was stronger under a high light intensity. On the yellow-green background, E. vitis adults significantly preferred the odors from shoots of the three host plants compared with clean air. Moreover, E. vitis adults preferred grapevine odor over the tea plant odor. The volatile blends of the three plant species were distinctly different. Peach plant shoots emitted the greatest amount of volatiles, whereas grapevine shoots released the greatest diversity of compounds. These results provide evidence that background visual cues could enhance the response of E. vitis adults to host-plant volatiles. The leafhoppers can discern different host odors, suggesting the possibility of using peach plant and grapevine odors to monitor and manage this pest in tea plantations.

Primary screening and application of repellent plant volatiles to control tea leafhopper, Empoasca onukii Matsuda

“…Consequently, to suppress leafhopper populations, the repellent should be combined with other pest management tactics, for example, with an attractive ingredient to build a push–pull system. This system is an effective means of pest behavioural manipulation and has been used successfully to manage several insect pests . A typical example is the combination of a neem seed extract spray (repellent) with an attractive trap crop to protect cotton crops from Helicoverpa armigera (Hübner) and Helicoverpa punctigera (Wallengren) in Australia .…”

“…The age of E . onukii adults was estimated from their body colour based on our experience . Newly emerged ‘pale green’ and too old ‘dark green’ adults of E .…”

Identification and expression analysis of chemosensory genes in the tea green leafhopper, Empoasca onukii Matsuda

“…Multiple reasons are probably responsible for the different numbers of OBP and CSP genes in diverse insects. Empoasca onukii has a wide range of host plants and complicated host environment (Cai et al., ; Guo, ), which might result in an increased number of OBP and CSP genes for detecting various odour molecules in the complex environment. The relative high number of OBPs (38) in A. lucorum may be associated with their highly migratory habits and food sources from multiple host plant species (Pan, Liu, Lu, & Wyckhuys, ).…”

“…The sex pheromones of the tea green leafhopper and tea volatiles could be used as potential biological agents for its management through mating disruption or mass trapping strategy. Through collecting and analysing the volatiles released by the tea plants, we found the tea green leafhopper are very attracted to several compounds [( E )‐2‐hexenal, ( E )‐ocimene and linalool; Cai et al., ; Mu et al., ] and repelled by particular compounds ( p ‐cymene, limonene and 1,8‐cineole; Zhang, Luo, et al., ; Zhang, Sun, Luo, Bian, & Chen, ). The antennae‐specific or enriched OBPs and CSPs may participate in the attracting and repelling behaviours.…”

“…As a consequence, new ecofriendly pest management technique and strategy are required to manage this pest. Previous researches have shown that the E. onukii was significantly attracted by the tea, peach and grapevine plant volatiles and volatile compounds such as ( E )‐2‐hexenal, ( E )‐ocimene and linalool (Cai et al., ; Mu et al., ), and repelled by the volatiles of non‐host plants Lavandula pinnata and volatile compounds such as p ‐cymene, limonene and 1,8‐cineole (Zhang, Luo, et al., ; Zhang, Sun, Luo, Bian, & Chen, ). In recent years, the olfaction‐based approaches, using host plant volatiles to attract E. onukii and using non‐host plant volatiles to mask host odours or evoke non‐host avoidance and repellent behaviours of E. onukii , have been successfully applied to control the E. onukii in the tea plantations (Mu et al., ; Zhang & Chen, ; Zhang, Sun, et al., ; Zhang, Zhou, et al., ).…”