D3223: Dont bite the leaf that feeds you: Understanding the effects of combinatorial stress on heirloom/hybrid tomato varieties

There is a great deal of research dedicated to understanding the effects of drought on crops, however a rising issue of understanding how flooding affects not only crops, but the organisms that interact with flooded plants as well. The subject of my research is Solanum lycopersicum (tomato), as I use three unique varieties to create a holistic picture of how combined stress affects these plants. Using the model organisms Manduca sexta (tobacco hornworm) and Spodoptera exigua (beet armyworm), the three families of tomatoes (Striped German, Cherokee Purple, New Girl) experienced herbivory in tandem with specific flooding treatments, and data was collected on the plants/herbivores’ performance during the trial period. The rate of development of adventitious roots within flood stressed tomatoes became an important factor of the experiment as each trial unfolded. From the data collected there is an emerging trend showing tomatoes exposed to flood stress were conducive to hornworms growing the fastest, as opposed to the non-flood stressed plants being conducive to armyworms growing the fastest. Hybrid tomatoes within the flood stressed groups in these trials exhibited a faster development of adventitious roots which aided their ability to tolerate flooding. The experiment was repeated three times with the same three treatments for the tomatoes, being flooded/ temporarily flooded for 5 days (After flood), and non-flooded plants. Phenolics, biomass, and maturation rate of the herbivores were measured and tested from the three tomato varieties to understand why the caterpillars perform better on specific treatment and variety combinations over others.