Effect of different rates of quercetin and rutin on the biology of Anticarsia gemmatalis

Abstract

Along the years of 1994 and 1995, three laboratory experiments were set up at Embrapa-Centro Nacional de Pesquisa de Soja, in Londrina, PR, Brazil, aiming to evaluate the effect of different rates of rutin and quercetin, phenolic compounds (flavonols) found in young leaves of the resistant soybean genotypes PI 227687 and 229358, on the biology of the velvetbean caterpillar, Anticarsia gemmatalis Hübner, 1818 (Lepidoptera, Noctuidae). Each flavonol was incorporated in the diet, in diferent rates; one experiment was set up incorporating rutin and two incorporating quercetin. Both quercetin and rutin lead to an increase on the duration of larval instars, and from 3rd instar to adult emergence, as well as to increased mortality of larvae, being the effects related to the increasing incorporated rates. Addition of quercetin to the diet caused pupal mortality and also pupal weight reduction in one of the tests, but the duration of this stage was not affected by treatments. Results indicated that effects of the flavonols on the insects begin on the 3rd or 4th instar, but they are more evident during the 5th and 6th instars.