Identification Of Volatile Compounds In The Chemical Communication Between Tea Leafhopper And Plants, And Verification Of Field Function

The central role of plant volatiles in insect life history has been exploited to manipulate the behavior of economically important species in monitoring and management programs. The tea green leafhopper is a serious pest of tea plants. In this study, a specific attractant of leafhopper was developed based on tea plant and non-tea plant volatiles. And the temporal and spatial patterns of the attractant were measured. The results showed as the following:1. The tea green leafhopper adults preferred grapevine and peach plant odors over the tea plant odor,and the background visual cues could enhance the response of the tea leafhopper to these plant volatiles.2. The olfactory cues of leafhoppers from tea plant, peach plant and grapevine odors were identified. Two attractants of leafhopper were developed based on peach plant and grapevine volatiles.3. The attractants from grapevine volatiles was significantly attractive to the leafhoppers in tea garden, and the attractive ratio could be up to 50 %. The attractiveness to leafhoppers could be increased by enhancing the emission of attractants, and trapping by the face-placement of attractant had a long efficacy compared to the point-placement.4. A thermal desorption–gas chromatography–mass spectrometry method was developed to measure ultra-trace levels of plant volatile compounds in field ambient air. Field studies indicated that the background odor of tea plantation contained some components of the attractants.5. Nine plant volatile compounds had different diffusion behavior in wind tunnel. The longitudinal diffusion of slow-relaesing compounds was strengthened by increasing the wind speed. Primary investigation showed the spatial distribution of tea leafhoppers could be influenced by the spatial and temporal structures of attractant.