Food as a factor determining the physiological state of populations of the phytopagous pests of agricultural crops

Relevance. Trophic relationships along with competition and mutualism are the most basic and significant interactions in ecosystems. To develop, survive, and multiply, insects need to consume a certain amount of nutrients at a certain ratio. Food products are complex mixes of nutrients and non-nutritive substances (sometimes toxic ones): macronutrients (proteins, carbohydrates, and lipids), micronutrients (vitamins and minerals), and water. Some nutrients are essential; insects lack the ability to synthesize them in their bodies and must obtain them from their diet or through symbiosis with beneficial organisms. Identification mechanisms being well developed in the system “phytophagous insect – plant” allow insects to successfully spread, multiply, and feed on certain plant species. The complex of hydrolytic enzymes in the insect intestine is one of the main targets for plant defense responses because these enzymes determine the availability of structural compounds for phytophagous insects. For this reason, enzymes in the insect intestine play a key role in the adaptation of insects to the pest resistance of fodder plants. For instance, when proteinase inhibitors are synthesized in a fodder plant as the result of induced insect resistance the complex of enzymes in an insect intestine might change negating the effect of these inhibitors. The development of co-adaptations due to interactions among species in food chains depends on a complicated constellation of conflicting relationships between consumers and food objects. The mechanisms of this influence may be rooted in the allelochemical interactions in the system “phytophagous insect – plant recipient”. Allelopathic interactions are among the most complex interactions because they are constituted by direct and indirect effects. Plants when damaged by phytophagous insects activate defense responses, which incorporate several mechanisms, including an increase in the concentration of secondary metabolites, many of which are phenolic compounds.The aim of the work is to describe the mechanisms of relationships in the system “phytophage-plant”. Conclusion. Management of processes of intra-water divergence of insect-phytophages in agrobiocoenoses in order to prevent the emergence of races and populations of pests adapted to live on initially resistant to them plant forms is possible in compliance with the transition to a targeted selection of agricultural crops for resistance to a complex of pests.