Root-knot development in mulberry infested with Meloidogyne incognita

Healthy mulberry roots were inoculated with second stage juveniles of the root-knot nematode, Meloidogyne incognita and the sequential anatomical changes in the root concurrent with the development of the nematode were studied with light and scanning electron microscopes. Visible anatomical changes occurred four weeks post-inoculation when the pear-shaped adult female nematodes appeared in the tissues. The infected roots lost their circular outline and increased in thickness as traumatic parenchyma was induced in the root. The stele was disorganised with reduced and deformed vascular elements. Many giant cells developed in the traumatic tissue, adjacent to the adult females. Eight weeks after the inoculation, cavities developed around the adult females by tissue disintegration, and the galls became discernable on the roots. The number and size of thegalls increased in the next three weeks, corresponding to the development of more traumatic tissues and the enlargement of the adult female nematodes. The majority of the nematodes were settled towards the gall periphery, with their posterior oriented outwards for the release of their eggs into soil by the disintegration of the outer root layers. But many were settled deep inside the gall tissue without a channel to release their eggs to soil. The inner cavities enlarged in large proportions, sometimes occupying the major volume of the gall. The conductive tissues of the root were totally disorganised or were nonexistent.