Effects of apigenin and luteolin on Myzus persicae (Hemiptera: Aphididae) probing behavior

Apigenin and luteolin are products of the phenylpropanoid pathway, where apigenin serves as a substrate for the synthesis of luteolin. Apigenin and luteolin are highly bioactive flavones; therefore, in search of prospective biopesticides, the receptiveness of the polyphagous green peach aphid Myzus persicae (Sulzer) (Hemiptera: Aphididae) to apigenin and luteolin was studied. The flavones were applied as 0.1% ethanolic solutions to the host plant leaf surface, and aphid probing and feeding activities were monitored using the Electrical Penetration Graph (EPG) technique. The structural difference between apigenin and luteolin, which was the number of hydroxyl groups in the molecule, had an impact on the activity of these flavones. On apigenin-treated plants, the duration of the first probe was three times as short as on the control and five times as short as on the luteolin-treated plants; the duration of the time to the first ingestion phase within the successful probe was shorter than on the control and luteolin-treated plants; the mean duration of xylem sap ingestion bouts and the proportion of xylem phase in all probing activities were the highest; and the duration of salivation before phloem sap ingestion was the longest. Aphids’ response to luteolin-treated plants was less distinct as compared to apigenin-treated plants.