Pathogenicity of Bursaphelenchusxylophilus on three species of pine

Abstract

Three species of 11-year-old pine trees were inoculated with Bursaphelenchusxylophilus in the field. Four branches in single whorls on red, Scots, and jack pine trees were wounded and inoculated with 10 000 nematodes each or with water extracts from Botrytiscinerea cultures. Prior to field inoculations, the pathogenicity of the nematode isolate was confirmed on seedlings in the greenhouse. Fourteen weeks after inoculation, 27 of 80 and 13 of 52 branches were dead or dying on Scots and jack pine trees, respectively. No symptoms were observed on red pine trees inoculated with B. xylophilus or on any controls. Branch death was attributed to the formation of girdling cankers resulting from inoculation. An average of 9.14, 10.39, and 0.02 nematodes were extracted per gram of wood from branch samples collected from Scots, jack, and red pine trees at 14 weeks, respectively, and at 58 weeks an average of 13.82, 1.01, and 0.05 nematodes per gram of wood sampled were recovered. Proportions of branch samples with nematodes declined from 14 to 58 weeks after inoculation. Although limited mortality of branches occurred, the pine wood nematode was not found to cause tree death following inoculation.