The Effects of the Water, Protein and Polyphenolic Contents of four Host Plant Species on the Development and Egg Yield of Female Larvae of Gypsy Moth (Lymantria dispar)

Abstract

This study was conducted to determine the effects of the water, protein and polyphenolic contents of the host plant leaves on the development and egg yield of the female larvae of a polyphagous herbivorous moth namely Lymantria dispar L. In a 14-day feeding experiment, L. dispar female larvae at the last two larval stages were fed by Quercus cerris, Quercus infectoria, Quercus pubescens and Salix babylonica leaves.The larvae fed by the leaves from Q. infectoria and Q. cerris with lower water content consumed less food and had lower apparent digestibility (AD) than the ones fed by the other species (Q. pubescens and S. babylonica). The highest efficiency for conversion of digested food into body mass (ECD) values were obtained from larvae fed by Quercus cerris and Salix babylonica as 0.63 and 0.70 respectively. These two host plant leaves also produced the lowest gallotannin content observed in the present study ( 4.3 %
and 1.3 % respectively).The leaves of Quercus infectoria and Salix babylonica total fenolic content of which was 8.9 % and 8.2 %, respectively caused
the highest pupal death (30 % and 25 %, respectively). The results indicated that lower total fenolic and gallotannin content of the leaves of two plant species might cause higher pupal death ratio due to lower level of protection against nuclear polyhydrosis virus.