Abstract: Kairomone activities of crude extract from female accessory glands of Bombyx mori after being treated for 30 min at 25℃, 60℃ and 100℃ were determined. The results showed that the extracted substance had strong attractive activity to Telenomus theophilae for all the 3 temperature treatments. The main grade of response at 60℃ or 100℃ showed no significant different from that at 25℃. This meant that the active substance was resistant to high temperature. At low temperature (4℃,0℃,-20℃or-70℃) the substance kept active for eliciting T. theophilae, but these temperatures could cause deposition of the active component. The amount of deposit at 0℃ was larger than that at 4℃. At -20℃ the active component amounted to 13.1% of the control according to HPLC analysis. This finding of sensitivity to low temperature is very importance for simplifying methods for isolation and purification of the kairomone.

Key words: Telenomus theophilae, kairomone, temperature