PLANT GROWTH-PROMOTING RHIZOBACTERIA INOCULATION ON SWEET BASIL REDUCES THE GROWTH PERFORMANCE AND NUTRITIONAL VALUE OF Spodoptera frugiperda

PALERMO, T; CHIAPPERO, J; CAPPELLARI, L; MENEGUZZI, R

Buenos Aires

Congreso; 6to Congreso de la Asociación Latino Americana de Ecología Química; 2021

Asociación Latino Americana de Ecología Química

Plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria play an important role in plant-insect interaction, but the understanding of the extent of their impact on insects is still in the early stages of knowledge. Therefore, the present study aimed at evaluating the role of inoculation with Bacillus amiloliquefaciens GB03 on sweet basil (Ocimum basilucum L.) in the development and nutritional parameters of Spodoptera frugiperda. In addition, the feeding preferences on inoculated and non-inoculated plants were assessed.S. frugiperda larvae reared with inoculated sweet basil leaves had a strong negative effect on the development of the insect, resulting in lower larval and pupal weights, and a longer period for larval ? adult development, as well as reducing adult emergence but not affecting the relative consumption rate (RCR) value, thereby showing no alteration of the palatability. Moreover, growth rate and lower nutritional indices, such as the efficiency of conversion of ingested food (ECI) and the efficiency of conversion of digested food (ECD), were reduced in larvae fed from treated plants. In the choice test, larvae avoided feeding from inoculated leaves. The occurrence of a large number of secondary metabolites in the inoculated sweet basil plants could have been the reason for the reduction of the plant nutritional rate and also for the food selection, since it has been reported previously that GB03 inoculated sweet basil increased the essential oil yield. Therefore, PGPR inoculation could be used as a growth promoter, making it a promising candidate for plant protection programs against insects in aromatic plant production.