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Specificity of plant induction responses may be important to the interactions between mustards and insect herbivores. This study cabbage white butterfly, Pieris rapae (L.), cabbagecompared the effects of the looper, Trichoplusia ni (Hubner), and the mustard flea beetle, Phyllotreta cruciferae (Goeze) on induction of leaf trichome density, sinigrin concentration, and nitrogen concentration in black mustard, Brassica nigra (L.) Koch. Plants were damaged for 12 h at the four-leaf stage, with effort made to standardize the damage applied. Induction responses were measured on the fifth,seventh, ninth, and 11th leaves counted from the cotyledons. Seventh leaves of plants damaged by P. rapae had 76% more trichomes per unit area than controls, whereas equivalent leaves of plants damaged by the other two herbivores exhibited no response. Ninth leaves of plants damaged by T. ni had 113% more trichomes per unit area than controls, whereas equivalent leaves of plants damaged by the other two herbivores exhibited no response.
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