Rhythms of volatile release from female and male sea buckthorn plants and electrophysiological response of sea buckthorn carpenter moths, Holcocerus hippophaecolus

The Sea buckthorn, Hippophae rhamnoides L., is a thorny, nitrogen-fixing, dioecious and deciduous shrub, which been attacked by a catastrophic outbreak of Holcocerus hippophaecolus in the ‘Three North Areas’ of China in recently. The behavioral responses of female individuals to their dioecious host sea buckthorn, Hippophae rhamnoides ssp. sinensis, were tested by Y-tube bioassay, and intraspecific emission variations and the circadian rhythm of male and female sea buckthorn plants were compared, together with the electrophysiological responses of sea buckthorn carpenter moths to these parameters. Y-tube olfactometry indicated that mated female Holcocerus hippophaecolus individuals did not display a significant preference for either sex of sea buckthorns. Additionally, no unique chemical compound was found. Female antennae significantly responded to 1-Octene, Methyl salicylate, and (Z)-3-Hexen-1-ol acetate, among which Methyl salicylate was more abundant in females than in males. In addition, the circadian variation of (Z)-3-Hexen-1-ol acetate suggested that it was an effective compound for host location.