Not Availablesignificant implications for sustainable pest management. The present study demonstrated that PSB
feeding, mechanical wounding, a combination of mechanical wounding and PSB regurgitation and
exogenous application of methyl jasmonate have induced phenolic compound mediated defense
responses both at short term (within 2 days of treatment) and long term (in 15 days of treatment) in
leaf and stalk tissues of maize. The quantification of two major defense related phenolic compounds
namely p-Coumaric acid (p-CA) and ferulic acid (FA) was carried out through ultra-fast liquid
chromatography (UFLC) at 2 and 15 days after imposing the above treatments. The p-CA content
induced in leaf tissues of maize genotypes were intrinsically higher when challenged by PSB attack at
V3 and V6 stages in short- and long-term responses. Higher p-CA content was observed in stalk tissues
upon wounding and regurgitation in short- and long-term responses at V3 and V6 stages. Significant
accumulation of FA content was also observed in leaf tissues in response to PSB feeding at V3 stage in
long-term response while at V6 stage it was observed both in short- and long-term responses. In stalk
tissues, methyl jasmonate induced higher FA content in short-term response at V3 stage. However, at
V6 stage PSB feeding induced FA accumulation in the short-term while, wounding and regurgitation
treatment-induced defense responses in the long-term. In general, the resistant (DMRE 63, CM 500)
and moderately resistant genotypes (WNZ ExoticPool) accumulated significantly higher contents of
p-CA and FA content than susceptible ones (CM 202, BML 6) in most of the cases. The study indicates
that phenolic mediated defense responses in maize are induced by PSB attack followed by wounding
and regurgitation compared to the other induced treatments. Furthermore, the study confirmed that
induced defense responses vary with plant genotype, stage of crop growth, plant tissue and short and
long-term responses. The results of the study suggested that the Phenolic acids i.e. p-CA and FA may
contribute to maize resistance mechanisms in the maize-PSB interaction system.Not Availabl
