An experimental study was performed to determine the characteristics and drying process of mushroom (Lentinus edodes) by 6 different hot-air drying methods namely isothermal drying, uniform raise drying, non-uniform raise drying, uniform intermittent drying, non-uniform intermittent drying and combined drying. The chemical composition (dry matter, ash, crude protein, crude fat, total sugars, dietary fiber, and energy), color parameters (L, a*, b*, c*, and h0) and rehydration capacities were determined. Among all the experiments, non-uniform intermittent drying reached a better comprehensive results due to the higher chemical composition, better color quality associated with high bright (26.381±5.842), high color tone (73.670±2.975), low chroma (13.349±3.456) as well as the highest rehydration (453.76% weigh of dried body). Nine kinds of classical mathematical model were used to obtained moisture data and the Midili-kucuk model can be described by the drying process with the coefficient (R2 ranged from 0.99790 to 0.99967), chi-square (χ2 ranged from 0.00003 to 0.00019) and root mean square error (RMSE ranged from 0.000486 to 0.0012367).

The striped stem borer (SSB), Chilo suppressalis (Walker) (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae), is a major pest of rice in China. Variation in host-plant quality may affect the body size of herbivorous insects, which in turn, can determine their lifehistory parameters such as survival, fecundity and fitness. In this study, we tested the effects of high-quality aromatic rice varieties on the fitness of SSB in China. Results showed that 1st instar larvae had higher penetrating rates and survival rates on the high-quality aromatic rice varieties (EX-1 and WX-988) than that on the non-aromatic rice varieties (EZ-5 and LYP-9). In addition, shorter developmental periods, greater female pupal weights and higher of other life-history parameters (hatching rate, pupation rate, eclosion rate and increase index) were found on the high-quality aromatic rice varieties, although only female pupal weight showed a significant difference between the two varieties. The highest dead heart rate was found on the aromatic rice variety of EX-1. These results indicate that SSB sustains a lower fitness cost when consuming the high-quality aromatic rice varieties (EX-1 and WX-988) than on the non-aromatic rice varieties (EZ-5 and LYP-9) in Central China.

The polyphagous B-biotype of Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius) has demonstrated a high capacity to adapt to numerous hosts from diverse plant families. To illustrate induced responses by the host plant, biochemical research on eight plant-insect interaction correlative enzymes, representing detoxifying, antioxidant and digestive pathways, were investigated. Transferring whitefly adults to Zhongmian 23 from the pre-adapted host Zhongmian 41 induced activities of carboxylesterase (by 1.80-fold), glutathione S-transferase (by 3.79-fold), proteinase (by 1.62-fold) and amylase (by 2.41-fold) activities, but decreased polyphenol oxidase (by 1.89-fold) and peroxidase (by 1.88-fold). However, transferring whitefly adults to the favorite host abutilon from Zhongmian 41 was associated with increased activities of cytochrome P450 monooxygenase (by 1.61-fold) and amylase (by 1.42-fold), and decreased activities of polyphenol oxidase (by 2.96-fold) and peroxidase (by 2.07-fold). Our results, together with previous studies, proved that multiple pathways are involved in coping with host shifts by polyphagous herbivores, and the taxonomic status and preference of the host transferred would affect which pathway would be induced. These results would represent a key challenge in developing long-term sustainable insect control strategies.