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Further observations on Anguillulina dipsaci infestation of the onion scape and inflorescence

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 November 2009

T. Goodey
Affiliation:
Institute of Agricultural Parasitology, St. Albans.

Extract

In a recent paper the writer (Goodey, 1943) has shown that the stem eelworm, Anguilulina dipsaci, occurred in considerable numbers in the scape, i.e. the flower stem, and the inflorescence of onions grown for seed in Sussex during 1943. The worms, mainly consisting of infective larvae, occurred in the dry papery tissues lining the hollow scape, in the pedicels of the flowers and in various of the floral organs, such as withered sepals and petals, in the receptacle and placenta and on the walls of the seed capsule. They were also attached to the outside of the ripened seed. In a second paper (Goodey, 1945) it is further shown that the parasite becomes firmly attached to the seed chiefly in the region of the hilum, whence it cannot be removed by the usual processes of winnowing and cleaning. The foregoing results were obtained from plant material in a dry condition and seed samples which had been threshed and cleaned. Study of this material had made it evident that the parasite must somehow gain access to the living tissues of the scape and inflorescence as these grow from the parent bulb, but it was not apparent how this came about; whether from lightly infected parent bulbs or direct from the soil. Circumstantial evidence had been adduced in the two papers, already mentioned, pointing to lightly infected parent bulbs being the probable source of infection, but the whole matter needed further investigation to elucidate this and other points. In the present communication the results of studies directed to the solution of these questions are given.

Type
Research Papers
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1945

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References

Godfrey, G. H., 1935.—The demonstration of plant-parasitic nematodes in host tissues. Phytopathology, 25 (11). 10261029.Google Scholar
Goodey, T., 1943.—Angtiillulina dipsaci in the inflorescence of onions and in samples of onion seed. J. Helminth., 21 (1). 2230.Google Scholar
Goodey, T., 1945.—Anguillulina dipsaci on onion seed and its control by fumigation with Methyl bromide. J. Helminth., 21 (2/3), 4559.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wallace, E. R. & Wood, J., 1943.—Stem eelvorm in onion bulbs, probably seedborne in origin. J. Helminth., 21 (1), 3336.CrossRefGoogle Scholar