This work aimed at investigating whether the consumption of eucalyptus seedling leaves by a herbivorous insect can be affected by the nutritional condition to which these plants have been submitted. To do so, leaves of Eucalyptus grandis W. Hill ex Maiden seedlings (9 months old) kept for 30 days in several nutrient solutions, were offered to Eupseudossoma involuta (Lepidoptera - Arctiidae) caterpillars. Nutrient solutions differed from each other by the presence/absence of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. Control treatments consisted of a complete solution (N, P, K present) and a treatment consisting of distilled water. The following parameters were measured: size and number of E. grandis leaves before and after having submitted to the treatments and leaf weight before and after they were offered to caterpillars. We concluded that the preference of caterpillars is a function of the nutritional conditions where the plants of E. grandis were maintained.
herbivore; mineral nutrition; nutritional deficiency; macronutrients
