ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Fecundity and Survival of Grain Aphid
at Various Growth Stages of Waxy
and Waxless Triticale
Agnieszka Wójcicka
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University of Natural Sciences and Humanities in Siedlce, Department of Biochemistry
and Molecular Biology in the Institute of Biology,
12 B. Prusa, 08-110 Siedlce, Poland
Submission date: 2015-01-16
Final revision date: 2015-08-21
Acceptance date: 2015-10-21
Publication date: 2016-03-17
Pol. J. Environ. Stud. 2016;25(2):843-849
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ABSTRACT
Plants use many strategies to protect themselves against insects. Morphological, anatomical, and chemical
plant properties play an important role in natural plant resistance to herbivore insects. The effects of triticale
genotypes with different wax covers at various growth stages was studied on the fecundity and survival
of the grain aphid Sitobion avenae (Fabricius) (Hemiptera: Aphididae). The aphids that fed on the organs
of the waxless genotypes survived longer and produced signifi cantly more nymphs. Furthermore, mortality
of nymphs on the waxy plants was significantly higher than on waxless plants. The chemical analysis also
showed that the waxless plants had lower levels of flavonoids in comparison with waxy plants. Waxless
seedlings had lower levels of flavonoids at every studied organ. The obtained results indicate that the level
of flavonoids might play an important role in the resistance of winter triticale genotypes to grain aphid. The
content of flavonoids was associated with the values of resistance between the waxy and waxless plants. It
was concluded that the waxy plants that contained high levels of flavonoids were less preferred by the grain
aphid.ces, which indicated no signifi cant change in either periphyton or macrozoobenthos following such
episodes.