Effect of pinewood nematode on the water content and early disease development of seedlings of susceptible Pinus densiflora and resistant Pinus×rigitaeda for breeding for resistance to pinewood nematode

Three-year-old seedlings of susceptible Pinus densiflora and resistant Pinus x rigitaeda were each inoculated with the pinewood nematode, Bursaphelenchus xylophilus, to compare disease development. Needle dehydration was evident on seedlings of P. densiflora by 20 days after inoculation, 10 days earlier than this symptom was observed on P. × rigitaeda. Xylem drying was more frequent in seedlings of P. densiflora than in that of P. × rigitaeda between 20 and 60 days after inoculation. No significant differences were found between P. densiflora and P. × rigitaeda for stem water content or for stem and leaf relative water content in current-year branches after nematode inoculation, but the average number of B. xylophilus recovered from stems differed significantly between the two groups. The number of B. xylophilus recovered from stems was negatively correlated with the stem water content and with stem and leaf relative water content. By the time the experiment was terminated at 60 days after inoculation, all 3 of the last group of P. densiflora seedlings had died, but 2 of the 3 remaining P. × rigitaeda hybrid seedlings were still alive. Additional studies are needed to further explore the specific mechanisms preventing nematode multiplication in the seedlings of resistant P. × rigitaeda.