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Ecology and Epidemiology

Interaction of Acrobeloides buetschlii and Rhizobium leguminosarum on Wando Pea. S. W. Westcott III, Graduate Research Assistant, Department of Plant Pathology, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina 27607; K. R. Barker, Professor, Department of Plant Pathology, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina 27607. Phytopathology 66:468-472. Accepted for publication 23 October 1975. DOI: 10.1094/Phyto-66-468.

Invasion by and reproduction of Acrobeloides buetschlii, a microbivorous nematode, inhibited N₂ fixation in nodular tissue of Wando pea, Pisum sativum. High numbers of nematodes were found in the central portion of nodules where they apparently were feeding and reproducing on bacteroids. Noninfected nodules were compact and whitish to light pink, whereas infected nodules were enlarged, brown, and often had obvious holes. Although this nematode had no consistent detrimental effect on growth or numbers of nodules that developed during short-term experiments, N₂ fixation generally was depressed by 80 to 90% compared to plants with noninfected nodules.