Water Dipping of Auxin Coated Chrysanthemum Cuttings Confers Protection against Insect Herbivores
1
Plant Sciences and Natural Products, Institute of Biology, Leiden University, 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands
2
Business Unit Greenhouse Horticulture, Wageningen University & Research, Violierenweg 1, 2665 MV Bleiswijk, The Netherlands
3
Molecular Interaction Ecology, German Center for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv), Halle-Gena-Leipzig, Deutscher Platz 5e, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
4
Institute of Biodiversity, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Dornburger-Str. 159, 07743 Jena, Germany
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Insects 2020, 11(11), 790; https://doi.org/10.3390/insects11110790
Received: 29 September 2020
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Revised: 26 October 2020
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Accepted: 10 November 2020
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Published: 12 November 2020
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Greenhouse Pest Management)
Simple Summary
Cultivated chrysanthemums are one of the most economically important ornamental greenhouse crops worldwide. Classical breeding programs have mainly focused on improving aesthetic characteristics to meet the continuous increasing customer demands for new flower varieties. Consequently, commercial cultivars often lack insect resistance traits. Among the most important production constraints are biotic foes, in particular thrips and leaf miner infestations form a prominent hazard during its vegetative state. To maintain the desired aesthetic characteristics, clonal commercial propagation is aided by the use of auxin hormones for root promotion. This study aims to evaluate the potential of root promoting auxins in antiherbivore defenses. We demonstrate that water dipping of unrooted basal cut ends, coated with the commercial rooting hormone indole-3-butyric acid (IBA), conferred protection in chrysanthemum against thrips and leaf miner. Our findings add an interesting twist to the traditional role of auxins. We advocate a new twist of auxins beyond its traditional role in rooting in order to maximize plant yield by reducing herbivory through feasible, cost-effective water dipping treatments.
Auxins are commonly used for commercial propagation of chrysanthemums by stem cuttings. Recent studies imply that these root-promoting hormones also affect plant defense responses. The underlying motive of this study stems from the serendipitous observation that water dipping of auxin-coated cuttings beneficially affected thrips herbivory. Therefore, the primary objective of this investigation was to explore the role of indole-3-butyric acid (IBA) in relation to herbivore susceptibility in chrysanthemum. We observed contrasting findings concerning the physical presence of IBA and it’s role in promoting susceptibility of cuttings to thrips, which may in part be explained by the phenotypical variations of cuttings generated from mother plants. Nonetheless, we repeatedly demonstrated considerable protection, in some experiments up to 37%, against thrips and leaf miner upon water dipping of IBA-coated cuttings. Assessment of polyphenol oxidase activity (PPO), 14 days after dipping treatment, suggests that neither direct induction nor priming of plant defenses are involved. Future experiments aimed at understanding the early signaling events may help to explain the underlying mechanisms involved in conferring herbivore protection. We propose a dual role for auxins in early integrated pest management strategies to maximize plant development and minimize herbivory through feasible, cost-effective water dipping treatments.
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Keywords:
indole-3-butyric acid; chrysanthemum cuttings; western flower thrips; leaf miner; Frankliniella occidentalis; Liriomyza trifolii; plant hormones; resistance; polyphenol oxidase
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MDPI and ACS Style
Mouden, S.; Leiss, K.A.; Uthe, H.; Klinkhamer, P.G.L. Water Dipping of Auxin Coated Chrysanthemum Cuttings Confers Protection against Insect Herbivores. Insects 2020, 11, 790. https://doi.org/10.3390/insects11110790
AMA Style
Mouden S, Leiss KA, Uthe H, Klinkhamer PGL. Water Dipping of Auxin Coated Chrysanthemum Cuttings Confers Protection against Insect Herbivores. Insects. 2020; 11(11):790. https://doi.org/10.3390/insects11110790
Chicago/Turabian StyleMouden, Sanae, Kirsten A. Leiss, Henriette Uthe, and Peter G.L. Klinkhamer. 2020. "Water Dipping of Auxin Coated Chrysanthemum Cuttings Confers Protection against Insect Herbivores" Insects 11, no. 11: 790. https://doi.org/10.3390/insects11110790
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