Some histological and biochemical aspects of pea resistance and susceptibility to Heterodera göttingiana

Abstract

Infestation by many H eterodera spp. usually causes cell wall dissolution and syncytia formation in the tissues of their host-plants (Nemec, 1932; Mankau and Linford, 1960; Johnson and Fushtey, 1966; Endo, 1964; Cole and Howard, 1958). The pea cyst nematode, H. goettingiana Liebscher, is an important potential plant pathogen of many Papilionaceae spp. on which the histological and biochemical modifications induced by the root invasion of the parasite are not known. The object of the present study was to throw some light on those aspects of the histopathology and biochemistry of its host-parasite relationships which have not been described previously.