Chemical Fingerprint Analysis of Volatile Components in Batocera horsfieldi Host Plants and Its Correlation With Climate Factors

Abstract

Batocera horsfieldi is a major wood-boring pest in China's timber and economic forests, belonging to the order Coleoptera and the family Cerambycidae. This study headspace solid-phase microextraction and gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS) were used to analyse the volatile components of B. horsfieldi supplementary feeding host plants, and fingerprint profiles were established. The results revealed that the five plants contained 21, 18, 22, 16 and 17 volatile compounds, mostly terpenes, aldehydes and alcohols, along with trace amounts of furans, ketones and ethers. The terpene compounds were mainly monoterpenes and sesquiterpenes. The results of hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) and principal component analysis (PCA) were consistent. Five common peaks were identified in these host plants, with (E)-2-hexenal, caryophyllene, (E)-cinnamaldehyde, nonanal, and 3,7-dimethyl-1,6-octadien-3-ol being the shared volatile components among the five plants. The mantel test, correlation analysis and grey relational analysis indicated that temperature and precipitation are important factors affecting the content of volatile components. These analytical results provide a basis for using plant volatiles as attractants to control B. horsfieldi.