DIFFERENTIAL RESPONSES OF GROWTH AND TWO SOLUBLE PHENOLICS OF TOMATO TO RESOURCE AVAILABILITY

We conducted two experiments to determine how resources influenced the intraspecific and within-plant allocation by tomato plants (Lycopersicon esculentum) to the soluble phenolics rutin and chlorogenic acid. We also measured the effect of resource availability on growth by measuring mass and other physical and cellular attributes of the plant. In the first experiment, we subjected plants to four levels of potassium nitrate fertilizer. In the second experiment, we subjected plants to high and low levels of potassium nitrate fertilizer and light. Both experiments yielded results consistent with the growth-differen- tiation balance hypothesis. Plants grown with low resources showed low levels of soluble phenolics and low plant mass. Plants grown with intermediate levels of resources showed high phenolic concentrations but inhibited growth. Plants grown with high resources had high growth but no increases in phenolic concentrations. The results were also consistent with the general prediction of the optimal defense hypothesis that there should be a negative relationship between growth and defense. We discuss possible adaptive explanations for the specific patterns observed. There were also consistent within-plant differences in phe- nolic concentrations. These differences in phenolic concentrations were large enough to have potential consequences for insect herbivores feeding on tomato plants.

[1]  H. Gauch,et al.  Growth and Rubber Accumulation in Guayule as Conditioned by Soil Salinity and Irrigation Regime , 1946 .

[2]  W. E. Loomis.  Growth and differentiation in plants. , 1954 .

[3]  C. V. Bavel.  Chemical Composition of Tobacco Leaves as Affected by Soil Moisture Conditions1 , 1953 .

[4]  S. Wender,et al.  Identification of rutin and isoquercitrin in cottonseed , 1959 .

[5]  G. Fraenkel,et al.  The specificity of the tobacco hornworm, Protoparce sexta, to solanaceous plants. , 1960 .

[6]  M. W. Mcfadden.  Observations on Feeding and Movement of Tobacco Hornworm Larvae , 1968 .

[7]  T. Shaver,et al.  Effect of Flavonoid Pigments and Gossypol on Growth and Development of the Bollworm, Tobacco Budworm, and Pink Bollworm , 1969 .

[8]  B. Heinrich.  The effect of leaf geometry on the feeding behaviour of the caterpillar of Manduca sexta (sphingidae) , 1971 .

[9]  D. McKey.  Adaptive Patterns in Alkaloid Physiology , 1974, The American Naturalist.

[10]  R. N. Gallaher,et al.  A semiautomated procedure for total nitrogen in plant and soil samples , 1976 .

[11]  J. Harborne.  Variation in and Functional Significance of Phenolic Conjugation in Plants , 1979 .

[12]  C. Jones,et al.  Some allelochemicals of Pteridium aquilinum and their involvement in resistance to Pieris brassicae , 1979 .

[13]  S. Gould,et al.  The spandrels of San Marco and the Panglossian paradigm: a critique of the adaptationist programme , 1979, Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B. Biological Sciences.

[14]  F. S. Chapin,et al.  The Mineral Nutrition of Wild Plants , 1980 .

[15]  James S. Buckner,et al.  LIFE CYCLE OF LABORATORY-REARED TOBACCO HORNWORMS, MANDUCA SEXTA, A STUDY OF DEVELOPMENT AND BEHAVIOR, USING TIME-LAPSE CINEMATOGRAPHY , 1980 .

[16]  S. Duffey,et al.  TOXICITY OF TOMATO PHENOLIC COMPOUNDS TO THE FRUITWORM, HELIOTHIS ZEA , 1982 .

[17]  F. Stuart Chapin,et al.  Carbon/nutrient balance of boreal plants in relation to vertebrate herbivory , 1983 .

[18]  J. Thompson.  Selection pressures on phytophagous insects feeding on small host plants , 1983 .

[19]  Richard H. Waring,et al.  Modifying Lodgepole Pine Stands to Change Susceptibility to Mountain Pine Beetle Attack , 1985 .

[20]  P. L. Lorio.  Growth-differentiation balance: A basis for understanding southern pine beetle-tree interactions , 1986 .

[21]  G. Pearce,et al.  Plant Proteinase inhibitors: A defense against herbivorous insects? , 1986 .

[22]  S. Larsson,et al.  Effects of light and nutrient stress on leaf phenolic chemistry in salix dasyclados and susceptibility to Galerucella lineola (Coleoptera) , 1986 .

[23]  K. Dietz.  Leaf and Chloroplast Development in Relation to Nutrient Availability , 1989 .

[24]  P. Price.  The Plant Vigor Hypothesis and Herbivore Attack , 1991 .

[25]  D. Herms,et al.  The Dilemma of Plants: To Grow or Defend , 1992, The Quarterly Review of Biology.

[26]  N. Stamp,et al.  Interactive effects of temperature and concentration of the flavonol rutin on growth, molt and food utilization of Manduca sexta caterpillars , 1992 .

[27]  A. Teramura,et al.  The Role of Flavonol Glycosides and Carotenoids in Protecting Soybean from Ultraviolet-B Damage , 1993, Plant physiology.

[28]  M. Berenbaum,et al.  Plant Chemistry, Insect Adaptations to Plant Chemistry, and Host Plant Utilization Patterns , 1993 .

[29]  D. J. Shure,et al.  PATCH-SIZE EFFECTS ON PLANT PHENOLICS IN SUCCESSIONAL OPENINGS OF THE SOUTHERN APPALACHIANS' , 1993 .

[30]  D. J. Shure,et al.  The influence of light and nutrients on foliar phenolics and insect herbivory , 1994 .

[31]  N. Stamp,et al.  Temperature‐allelochemical interactive effects on performance of Manduca sexta caterpillars , 1994 .

[32]  I. Baldwin,et al.  The Allometry of Nitrogen to Growth and an Inducible Defense under Nitrogen‐Limited Growth , 1994 .