Impact of heteroptera pentatomidae feeding and oviposition on photosynthesis of herbaceous plants and egg parasitoids host location

2009

The present study was designed to examine the effect of heteroptera pentatomidae feeding and/or oviposition on photosynthesis. Murgantia histrionica and Nezara viridula were fed on Brassica and Phaseolus plants, respectively. The changes in photosynthetic gas exchange and chlorophyll fluorescence parameters were followed immediately after the feeding as well as during the post-feeding period (24, 48 and 72 h). Murgantia feeding caused visible damage on leaf lamina, whereas this was not the case with Nezara feeding. In both cases a substantial decrease (50%) in photosynthesis was observed, which was partially restored only in Phaseolus plants by the end of the experiment. By using high resol…