Thesis (M.Sc.). / Written for the Dept. of Plant Science. Title from title page of PDF (viewed 2009/06/18). Includes bibliographical references.

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Regulation of nutritional intake by herbivorous insects often leads to optimal performance. When given choices, beet armyworm, Spodoptera exigua, caterpillars selected a diet with a protein to digestible carbohydrate ratio of 22p:20c. Restriction to carbohydrate-biased diets led to increased mortality and developmental time. On protein-biased diets, caterpillars possessed metabolic strategies to maintain optimal performance. / Caterpillar glucose oxidase (GOX), which catalyzes the oxidation of glucose, may be a pre-ingestive mechanism to cope with excess dietary carbohydrates. GOX activity was highest in the labial salivary glands of 4th instar caterpillars and was higher in caterpillars reared on a meridic artificial diet (AD) compared to those fed Medicago truncatula. Following transfer from plants, labial salivary GOX activity increased with time spent on AD suggesting that a dietary factor is involved in this enzyme's regulation. Dietary carbohydrate levels do not appear to regulate GOX activity; however nutritional content may play a role its regulation.

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Insecticides in the diamide class have a novel mode of action and have become a key component for management of agriculturally important lepidopteran pests since their introduction in 2008. Corn earworm, Helicoverpa zea (Boddie); and the armyworm complex including fall armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda (J.E. Smith); and Spodoptera exigua (Hübner); are significant pests of agroecosystems in the Mid-southern and Southeastern regions of the United States. They have developed resistance to, and/or inconsistent control has occurred with most chemical classes. The objectives of this study were to establish susceptibility levels of field populations of H. zea, S. frugiperda, and S. exigua collected in the Mid-southern and Southeastern regions of the United States to flubendiamide and chlorantraniliprole. To achieve equivalent levels of mortality for each species, a higher concentration of flubendiamide was required compared to chlorantraniliprole. Furthermore, two experiments were conducted to determine the systemic and residual efficacy of chlorantraniliprole and flubendiamide against H. zea on vegetative and reproductive structures of soybean. Chlorantraniliprole moved systemically and had significantly greater control than flubendiamide in the systemic and residual study out to 31 DAT. Flubendiamide did not move systemically but provided significant residual control out to 31 DAT compared with the untreated control. Neither insecticide was detected in reproductive structures. Finally, to determine the risk of resistance development, a S. exigua colony, originating from a field collection in 2013, was separated into three cohorts that were independently selected with three concentrations (0.016, 0.020, and 0.025 ppm) of flubendiamide incorporated into a meridic diet. These concentrations were chosen from the LC30, LC60 and LC90 of the original colony. Resistance ratios never increased past 2.11old. The highest resistance ratios occurred after 18 generations for the LC30 colony, 19 generations for the LC60 colony, and 13 and 15 generations for the LC90 colony. After reaching their highest point of resistance, the colonies began to decline in egg production and larval survivability and did not recover. After 22 generations the selected colonies were terminated. The results from this portion of the study suggest that the potential for resistance development of beet armyworm to flubendiamide is unclear.

Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) produces an array of volatile secondary metabolites that act as constitutive and induced defenses against a variety of insect pests and diseases. We studied the effect of beneficial microorganisms, an arbuscular mycorrhiza fungus (AM), Glomus intraradices, an entomopathogenic fungus (Bb), Beauveria bassiana and a combination of both (AM+Bb), as well as, pests, such as rootknot nematode (RKN) (Meloidogyne incognita) and beet armyworm (BAW) (Spodoptera exiguae H.) on the production of volatile compounds in the leaves and roots of tomato. Benzyl alcohol, 3-hexenoic acid, total other compounds and β-myrcene were significantly increased (P<0.05) in the leaves by AM and Bb colonization. Upon herbivory, control plants showed a trend for high volatile contents among all four treatment groups contrary to the trend observed without herbivory, when control showed low volatile contents. Herbivory significantly decreased all the volatiles in the leaves compared to those without herbivory. Pest bioassay revealed that these two fungi together can significantly induce resistance against BAW. In the experiment with RKN, a trend was observed with low production of most volatile compounds in the leaves from the RKN plants. Varying durations of herbivory exposure had significant effects on many leaf volatile compounds compared to those without herbivory. Effect of RKN was significant (P<0.05) on the production of methyl salicylate, and (Z)-geraniol in the roots. Interaction effect of RKN with 18 hours of herbivory was significant for (Z)-geraniol, and with 42 hours of herbivory, it was significant for (Z)-geraniol, benzyl alcohol, and total volatiles in the roots. Beet armyworm preferred RKN plants and caused greater damage to them compared to the control plants. Semi-quantitative RT-PCR showed higher expression of the SlSAMT gene in the roots colonized with RKN, compared to the control roots and those from a resistant line. The experiments demonstrated that interaction with these organisms can change the volatile compounds in the leaves and roots of tomato plant, can alter herbivore preference, and can upregulate defense genes such as SlSAMT.

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