Gravid female H. zea moths oviposit preferentially on
plants not treated with salt
H. zea gravid female moths showed a significant preference for
no-salt-treated plants compared to salt-treated plants. After one day,
the average number of eggs laid on no-salt-treated plants (12.56 ±
2.894) did not significantly differ from the average number of eggs laid
on salt-treated plants (7.122 ±
1.641) (Figure 4: Day 1, P = 0.2879). However, there
were significantly higher eggs laid on no-salt-treated plants (Day 2:
22.37 ± 3.6; Day 3: 30.66 ± 4.276) vs salt-treated plants (Day 2: 11.12
± 1.995; Day 3: 14.95 ± 2.820) on the second (Figure 4: Day 2,P = 0.0243) and third days of oviposition (Figure 4: Day
3, P = 0.0092). Day (F(1.42, 113.6) = 45.27, P < 0.0001) and
salt treatment (F (1, 80) = 7.472, P = 0.0077)
accounted for a significant source of variation in the data. A
significant interaction between day and salt treatment (F(2, 160) = 7.131, P = 0.0011) was also observed,
which would be apparent as the total number of eggs laid increases
daily.