Postdoc Fayetteville State University Fayetteville, North Carolina
Body of Abstract: One of the most damaging insect pests to wheat plants is the hessian fly. Plants often rely on phytohormones to trigger intricate signaling networks so they can defend themselves against pests and disease. According to our hypothesis, wheat plants under heat stress are more susceptible to Hessian flies when phytohormones are applied externally. We infested two Hessian fly-resistant wheat cultivars, Molly and Iris, with an avirulent Hessian fly biotype GP. The plants were sprayed with 2 mM solutions of Jasmonic Acid (JA), Salicylic Acid (SA), Indole Acetic Acid (IAA), 12-Oxophytodienoic Acid (OPDA), SA +IAA, JA + IAA, and OPDA + IAA, respectively, prior to heat stress at 30 °C and 35 °C for 24 hours. The resistance efficiency of plants was measured and analyzed by comparing the percentage of susceptible plants and the percentage of live insects between the treatments and control plants, respectively. Our results suggest that the external application of different phytohormones affects wheat resistance differently under heat stress.
Our findings imply that the number of Hessian fly larvae attacking wheat plants may have an influence on the resistance of heat-stressed wheat plants to the external application of different SA, JA, OPDA, and IAA. Our findings shed light on the complexity of the impact of the application of phytohormones on plant resistance to insect pests under high-temperature conditions.