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Diet‐induced food preference by Manduca sexta larvae: acceptable non‐host plants elicit a stronger induction than host plants

Diet‐induced changes in food preference by fifth instar larvae of the tobacco hornworm, Manduca sexta (Johan.) (Lepidoptera, Sphingidae), were examined. Two groups of larvae with different diet experience were used: larvae reared on a host or on an acceptable non‐host plant species. Each group of larvae was offered a choice between leaf discs from each rearing plant species (2‐plant choice test) and food preference was measured as the consumption of one plant species relative to that of the other plant species. Diet‐induced changes in preferences were larger with the host versus acceptable non‐host plant pairs Solanum pseudocapsicum (L.) versus Raphanus sativus (L.), Lycopersicon esculentum (Mill.) versus Vigna sinensis (Savi), and Datura innoxia (L.) versus V. sinensis than with the host versus host plant pairs L. esculentum versus Capsicum annuum (L.) and L. esculentum versus D. innoxia. To examine how much the food preference had been altered for each test plant species alone, two other groups of larvae were offered a choice between leaf discs from a single plant species and filter paper discs laced with distilled water (l‐plant choice test). Larvae preferred the dietary plant species more strongly than the non‐dietary plant species in tests using the following plant species: for C. annuum with C. annuum and L. esculentum as diets, for V. sinensis with V. sinensis and L. esculentum or D. innoxia as diets, and for R. sativus with R. sativus and S. pseudocapsicum as diets. The preference for the hosts L. esculentum and D. innoxia did not change significantly after rearing larvae on different hosts or on an acceptable non‐host. Thus, diet‐induction by M. sexta larvae results in an enhancement of preference for the dietary plant species which is much stronger with acceptable non‐hosts than with hosts.