On cyst-like bodies, resembling cysts of Heterodera schachtii of common occurrence in British Soils

Abstract

In 1928 a description of the morphology of three strains of Heterodera schachtii attacking beet, oats and potatoes respectively, was published in the Journal of Helminthology by the present writer. This was followed in 1929 by a second publication in which the morphology of strains of the nematode attacking beet, oats, hops, mangolds and potatoes were described. In the earlier paper it was noted that cysts of the potato-strain in Hertfordshire were smaller both in average and maximum dimensions than were cysts in soil from South Lincolnshire. The Hertfordshire land had been infected by the addition of South Lincolnshire soil and the reduction in cyst-size occurred in adjacent portions of the plot to which the infection had spread during the cultivation of two successive potato crops. It was concluded that this decrease in size was a reaction to the difference in soil type, possibly associated with available oxygen.