author(s)
R Vishnupriya, G Umapathy, Sheela Venugopal and V Manivannan

abstract
The present study was carried out to understand the host-mite interaction and the biochemical changes induced in the mite infested coconut nuts during December, 2012- November, 2013 at Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore. Biochemical analysis of the mite infested perianth tissues in comparison with healthy perianth tissues were carried out and results revealed that there was significant decrease in moisture content and chlorophyll content to an extent of 15.1 and 23.7 per cent, respectively. Total sugars and total free amino acids showed a significant increase of 12.4, and 83.8 per cent in mite infested tissues, respectively. Similarly pest induced defensive components such as phenols, peroxidase and IAA oxidase enzyme activities were also found to be more with 55.3, 39.2 and 42.9 per cent increase over healthy tissues, respectively. Among the major nutrients tested, nitrogen was found to be 18.9 per cent more in mite infested tissues, on contrast, phosphorus was found be drastically low with 60 per cent decrease due to mite feeding. Significant loss in calcium, magnesium, iron and copper were also observed to an extent of 66.7, 80.0, 51.8 and 18.8 per cent, respectively due to mite infestation.