Relationship between secondary metabolites and infestations caused by chickpea leafminer Liriomyza cicerina (Diptera:Agromyzidae)

Elucidation of relationships between secondary metabolites and infestation caused by chickpea leafminer Liriomyza cicerina (Diptera: Agromyzidae) is of importance for managing leafminer in sustainable agriculture. In order to prevent agricultural crops losses caused by leafminer in the field, the insect monitoring is often required. In this work, we studied the role of secondary metabolites as response to infestations caused by chickpea leafminer. The study carried out on three chickpea Cicer arietinum varieties namely Beja1, Nour and Nayer. Furthermore, phenol, flavonoid contents and antioxidant activity were determined on infested and non-infested chickpea plants. In addition, protein contents were compared between seeds from non-infested and infested plants. Investigations were accomplished during three developmental crop stages (Vegetative, flowering and pod setting). Results showed that the highest infestation levels were recorded during pod setting stage. Moreover, our data revealed the presence of significant and negative correlations between total phenols and infestation (r = −0.751, P < 0.01) and between flavonoids levels and infestation percentage (r = −0.971, P ≤ 0.01). Our data demonstrated that chickpea leafminer is a serious pest causing damage on chickpea production and industry. Besides, results showed that the secondary metabolites including total phenols and flavonoids in three chickpea varieties were found to be higher level in infested plants than those of control at three growth stages indicating that chickpea plant may be protected by its secondary metabolites against the chickpea leafminer.