Leaves of several plant species lost chlorophyll after infestation by Spanish slugs (Arion vulgaris). Is it specific slug toxin or some specific virus vectored by the slug?
Diseases, age of plant, stresses affect the chloropyll content of plants.
Prinka Goyal Thank you, in my case there are two possible variants: 1) some toxin of these slugs, well-known for their poisonous features (actually they prefer to feed on poisonous plants too). Plant chloroplasts are known targets for natural toxins (Alternaria, etc.); 2) some pathogens (probably viruses, slugs are well-known vectors of viruses). But, I cannot find any references for such effect.
How much time did it take for the plants to look like that after slugs were feeding ?
Ricarda Koopmann It depends on plants and case - from 3-5 days for local reaction till 2 weeks for systemic. But, I must say, that such symptoms occur on very small part of damaged plants comparing to the total huge number of slugs. Their phenotypic diversity if very high and I think it correspond to high variation of toxins and carried pathogenic microorganisms.
Zinc also play the significant role in chlorophyll synthesis and degradation
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