Environmental Entomology (1997) 26, 101-105

Ashok K. Raina, D. Michael Jackson and Ray F. Severson (1997)
Increased pheromone production in wild tobacco budworm (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) exposed to host plants and host chemicals
Environmental Entomology 26 (1), 101-105
Abstract: Compared with the laboratory colony females, 1st-generation feral, (wild F₁), females of the tobacco budworm Heliothis virescens (F.), produced little sex pheromone unless exposed to a host plant. Pheromone production in wild F₁ females was induced by both cotton, Gossypium hirsutum L., squares and tobacco, Nicotiana tabacum L., buds. With either of the hosts, physical contact evoked a significantly higher response than did exposure to volatile compounds from these plant parts. Of the 12 tobacco chemicals and a corn, Zea mays L., silk extract tested with wild F₁ females, oxidized alpha+ß-4,8,13-duvatriene-1,3-diols (oxy-DVT-diols), alpha-4,8,13-duvatriene-1,3-diol (alpha-DVT-diol), (13E)-labda-13-ene-8alpha,15-diol (labdenediol),and the corn silk extract evoked high pheromone production. Pheromone production may require host plant-based signals to assure that a suitable host is available for oviposition by the female, once it is mated.
(The abstract is excluded from the Creative Commons licence and has been copied with permission by the publisher.)
Database assignments for author(s): Ashok K. Raina, D. Michael Jackson

Research topic(s) for pests/diseases/weeds:
pheromones/attractants/traps
environment - cropping system/rotation

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Pest and/or beneficial records:

Beneficial	Pest/Disease/Weed	Crop/Product	Country	Quarant.
	Heliothis virescens