BIOCHEMICAL STUDIES ON OVIPOSITING FEMALES OF SCHISTOCERCA GREGARIA (FORSKAL)

Abstract

Eva l ua tion of the biological and biochemica l response of Schistocreca gregaria (Forsk.) to egg pod extract during ovi positing of t he ad u lt fem ales was carried out, to st udy thei r inh ibitory e ffects on h aemol ymph ma in meta bol ites and consiquently their reprod ucti vely. The two com ponents of the egg pod (froth a nd egg) were extracted sepa rately in hexa ne and etha nol. Each extract was added to the steri l ized sand in the treated cups as ovi posi t ing sites for sol ita ry and gregary phases.The ovi positi ng 8 days old ad u lts females with adu l t males of the some age were exposed to these cu ps ti ll egg l aying. The number of egg pods, la id eggs, hatchi ng percentages a nd the concentration of haemolymph ma in meta bol ites (Protei n, Carbohydrate, Li pi d a nd Cholesterol) were determined. The obtained resu lts could be summarized as fo llows: A- Bio log ica l respo nse: The exposure of so li tary and gregary adult females to the contam inated cu ps with both sol ita ry and grega ry egg pod ext racts i n hexa ne or etha nol reduced the number of egg pods, laid eggs and hatch ing percent. B- M etabol ic effects: The observed suppression in hatchibiliti es of exposed sol itary or gregary ovi posi ting females of S. gregaria to hexane or ethanol extracts of egg pods (sol itary or gregary) reffered to the occurance of some effecti ve c hemica ls which may suppress the meta bolism of their haemolym ph ma i n metabol ites.The haemolymph of the treated ovipositing adult females was coll ected dur ing the periods of vitellogenesis, oogenesis a nd egg laying, which expressed as I 0,1 2,1 5,17 and 1 9 days of t he treated and u ntreated ov ipositing adult females l i fe. The obtained results revealed that, the exposure of sol itary and gregary ad u lt females to contaminated ov ipositing sites with both sol itary and gregary egg pod ext racts in hexane or etha n ol resulted in an obvious distu rbance in the concent ration of the h aemol ymph main metabolites d u ring vi tellogenesis and oogenes is periods of the exposed adu l t females from both sol itary and gregary phases.