Assessing Jasmonic acid seed priming in Brassica napus: Impacts on Aphid herbivory resistance and seedling fitness trade-offs

Authors

Daisy Stradling

Document Type

Biological and Marine Sciences Article

Abstract

Jasmonic acid (JA) is a key phytohormone involved in plant defence, offering a potential sustainable alternative to conventional chemical pesticides. While JA seed priming has been explored as a strategy to enhance herbivore resistance in certain plant families, its potential fitness trade-offs remain poorly understood. This study investigates the effects of JA seed priming on Brassica napus (oilseed rape), a key agricultural crop, focusing on seedling fitness and resistance to Brevicoryne brassicae (mealy cabbage aphid), a major agricultural pest. To assess potential fitness trade-offs, seeds were primed with 75 µM JA, and multiple seedling fitness parameters were measured. Germination monitoring revealed no significant difference in time to 50% germination (T50) or final germination percentage between the control and treatment group, though the later was only marginally non-significant. Similarly, plant height at day 19 of growth, root-to-shoot allocation and total biomass at day 30 revealed no clear trade-offs associated with JA seed priming. Aphid preference trials revealed no clear effect of JA seed priming, but aphid fecundity experiments over 84 hours demonstrated that JA seed priming reduced nymph production at all time points with a particularly strong effect at hour 84 (p=0.0007). These findings suggest that JA seed priming effectively enhances herbivore resistance without imposing substantial fitness costs on B.napus seedlings, supporting its potential use in sustainable agriculture.

Publication Date

2025-12

Publication Title

The Plymouth Student Scientist

Volume

18

Issue

2

ISSN

1754-2383

Deposit Date

2025-12

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Recommended Citation

Stradling, Daisy (2025) "Assessing Jasmonic acid seed priming in Brassica napus: Impacts on Aphid herbivory resistance and seedling fitness trade-offs," The Plymouth Student Scientist: Vol. 18: Iss. 2, Article 25.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.70156/1754-2383.1517
Available at: https://pearl.plymouth.ac.uk/tpss/vol18/iss2/25